Fisherfolk at the Berinda Cox Fish Market say ongoing problems with ice shortages and power outages are threatening their businesses, contradicting government claims that the longstanding issues have been resolved.
When Barbados TODAY visited the market on Friday, several fishers and vendors expressed frustration over two recurring issues: unreliable access to ice and the lack of electricity on the lone jetty.
Earlier on Friday, Minister of the Blue Economy Adrian Forde told reporters at a separate event that the market’s ice machine was operational, though producing at a reduced rate, and that electrical faults on the jetty had been fixed.
But veteran fisherman and boat owner Steven Bourne disagreed. Though he acknowledged the lights were back on, he said there is still no electricity available for boats to tap into.
“There are no plugs on the jetty,” Bourne explained. “If something is wrong with the boat and you come in there, you got to bring a generator. A couple of weeks ago, they were doing some work on my boat, and I had to bring one from home just to get current. I would have gone and buy a generator if I had something to do on my boat up there.”
Bourne also insisted that the ice machine has been problematic for months, leaving small boat operators at a disadvantage.
“Sometimes the boats come up in the evening and can’t get no ice to prepare to go the next day,” he said. “The small boats normally leave here about six o’clock in the morning. If you got to wait till about eight o’clock before you get ice, that’s a major setback.”
He added that catches have been modest since the passage of Hurricane Beryl, with fishers bringing in small barracudas, snapper, and small dolphins weighing just a few pounds.
“The industry is recovering from the shock of Beryl, but it didn’t fully recover yet,” Bourne said. “You still got a lot of boats down there that ain’t complete yet. I went into the Shallow Draught this morning, and some boats still down like they ain’t start to repair yet.”
Another fisherman, who identified himself only as Ralph, raised concerns about accountability at the blast freezer used to store catches. He said the quantities that they put in are in many cases not the same as what they take out, and when they report the matter, no one is held accountable for why fish is missing.
He also complained about costly ice shortages. “When I want six tonnes of ice costing over $1 400, I end up getting about four tonnes over two days,” he said. “That’s a major setback.”
Several vendors said they feel their complaints go unheard, and alleged that there has been pressure to refrain from taking their issues to the media.
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