Despite the Trinidad Met Office’s discontinuation of its rough seas bulletin yesterday some fishermen said they intend to keep their recent increase in fish prices up. The price of fish increased significantly over the past few days because of rough seas. Since the year began, the fishing industry has encountered difficulty staying afloat as many fishermen have been unable to go out to sea.
On Thursday afternoon the Met Office said sea conditions along the coastlines had shown gradual improvement and appealed to small craft operators, sea bathers and all other marine interests to continue to exercise caution when venturing into the sea. Yesterday, in an update the office discontinued the bulletin but still appealed to small craft operators, sea bathers and all other marine interests to continue to exercise caution.
At the Cocorite Fishing Facility on Thursday morning several fishermen and fish vendors spoke about the challenge they encountered both buying and selling fish. One or two fellas have been taking a chance and going out, but overall sales have been very slow, said Jordy Williams, a fish vendor of 20 years. Williams said usually the boats bring back approximately 500 pounds of fish, but now they are only getting about 100 pounds.
Carite has been selling for $40 per pound and that normally sells for $25 per pound. King fish now goes for $45 though it usually sells for $30 to $35 per pound. Right now things are really slow. Normally the boats bring back 500 pounds worth of fish, but now all we are getting are 100 pounds, Williams said. On December 27, the Met Office issued its first rough seas bulletin. Since then, fishing boats had been unable to safely go out to sea.
However, the latest bulletin on Thursday said sea conditions along the coastlines have shown gradual improvement. Williams said on average 20 boats go out to sea to fish from the Cocorite facility, but recently only three boats have attempted to brave the rough seas to fish. He said usually the facility gets approximately 50 to 60 customers per day. However, since the rough seas bulletin has come into effect they have had about ten people interested in buying fish per day.
Right now it is real pressure. People think we are robbing them, but that is not the case. The amount of fish we get is so bad that we have to raise the price, Williams said. Michael Jerry, a fisherman from the facility, said Thursday was the first day boats from Cocorite ventured out to sea. Three boats have gone out today (Thursday). This is the first time any of our boats have attempted to go out. These days we have just been getting fish from fishermen from Las Cuevas, Jerry said.
While Jerry was yet to go out to sea for the year, his colleague Kahiam Ali, a fisherman for 26-years, said Wednesday night was the first time he tried to fish on the North Coast. Last night (Wednesday) I went out and the weather wasn’t all that bad, but there was plenty wind. I was able to bring back about 20 pounds of fish, but that is not enough. Normally when I go out I bring back about 100 pounds to 200 pounds of fish, he said.
Responding yesterday to the Met Office’s advisory that the rough seas bulletin had been discontinued, Jerry said Cocorite fishermen ventured to sea on Thursday night but their catch was low. He said therefore the price increase remained in effect. A woman, who identified herself as Jenifer, was the only patron at the Cocorite facility buying fish when T&T Guardian visited on Thursday.
She said, I haven’t come here in a long time, and now the price of carite is $40 a pound. I thought that was pretty ridiculous so I only bought a small one. She left the facility with carite weighing one pound five ounces.
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