Barbados fishing industry still reeling from hurricane aftermath

There are few clearer signs of the destructive power that Hurricane Beryl unleashed on Barbados in July than what happened at the marina in the capital Bridgetown.

Scores of torn and broken ships rest on piles, holes in their hulls, broken rudders and broken windows.

However, these were lucky.

At least they can be repaired and returned to the sea. Many others drowned, taking all their family’s money.

When Beryl hit Barbados, the island’s fishing fleet was destroyed in a short time. About 75% of the active fleet was destroyed, and 88 boats were completely destroyed.

Charles Carter, owner of the blue-and-black fishing boat Joyce, was among those affected.

“It’s been terrible, I tell you. I had to change both sides of the ship, right down to the waterline,” he says, pointing to the now white boat in front of us.

It has taken months of restoration and thousands of dollars to get it back to where it is, during the time Charles was unable to fish.

“That’s my life, my life, fishing is what I do,” he says.

His friend, Captain Euride, said: “We’re just trying to get the pieces back.”

Now, six months after the storm, there are signs of calm waters. On a hot Saturday, several repaired ships were put back in the sea with the help of cranes, trailers and government assistance.

All Barbados fishermen are happy to see Joyce back on the water.

But Barbadians are acutely aware that climate change means more active and stronger Atlantic hurricane seasons – and it may only be a year or two before fishing activity resumes. For example, Beryl was the oldest Category 5 hurricane on record.

Few understand the magnitude of the problem better than the island’s Chief Fisheries Officer, Dr Shelly Ann Cox.

“Our guides have been saying that the sea conditions have changed,” he explains. “The big swell, the surface temperature is really hot and they’re having a hard time finding flying fish now at the beginning of our pelagic season.”

Flying fish are a national symbol of Barbados and a major part of the island’s cuisine. But climate change has hurt stocks for years.

At Oistins Fish Market in Bridgetown, flying fish are still available, along with marlin, mahi-mahi and tuna, although only a few places are open.

One of them, Cornelius Carrington, from Freedom Fish House. fishing is the speed and skill of a man who has spent many years with a fish knife in his hand.

“Beryl was like a surprise attack, like an ambush,” Cornelius says, his voice deep, over market chatter, reggae music and small cuts on boards.

Cornelius lost one of his two boats in Hurricane Beryl. “This is the first time that a typhoon has come from the south like this, usually typhoons hit us from the north,” he said.

Although his second boat allowed him to stay financially stable, Cornelius thinks that climate change is adding to the fishermen’s woes.

“Right now, everything has changed. The tides are changing, the climate is changing, the sea temperature is changing, the whole process has changed.”

The results are also visible in the tourism industry, he says, with hotels and restaurants struggling to find enough fish to meet monthly needs.

For Dr Shelly Ann Cox, public education is important and, she says, the message is getting through.

“Perhaps because we are an island and so connected to water, Barbadians are able to talk better about climate change and what it means for our country,” he says.

“I think if you talk to the kids again, they know more about the topic.”

To see for myself, I went to a high school – Harrison College – as a member of a local NGO, the Caribbean Youth Environmental Network (CYEN), I spoke to members of the School’s Environmental Club about climate change.

CYEN representative, Sheldon Marshall, is an electrical engineer who asked the students about greenhouse gases and what they can take home to help reduce the island’s emissions.

“How can you, as young people in Barbados, contribute to climate change?” he asked them.

Following an interesting and lively debate, I asked the students how they feel that Barbados is at the forefront of global climate change, despite having only a small share of the atmosphere.

A 17-year-old girl named Isabella Fredricks said: “I personally have a pessimistic attitude.

“We are a very small country. It doesn’t matter how much we try to change, if the big countries – the ones that are doing the damage like America, India and China – don’t change, everything we do will be in vain.”

Her classmate, Tenusha Ramsham, is a little more optimistic.

“I think the biggest leaps in history happened when people came together and created new things,” he argues. “I don’t think we should be completely discouraged because research, innovation, technology development and education will bring about the future we want.”

Adrielle Baird, 16, adds: “I feel if we can talk to the world’s most powerful authorities about the pain we feel seeing this happening in our community, it will help them understand and help us work together to find solutions.” the problems we see.”

For the island’s youth, their very future is at stake. Rising sea levels are now a major threat to small islands in the Caribbean.

It’s a fact that the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has become an advocate for global change – urging action on the upcoming climate crisis in her speech at COP29 and calling for compensation from developed countries around the world.

On the coast and in its oceans, it feels like Barbados is under siege – dealing with issues ranging from coral melting to coastal erosion. Although the impetus to take action comes from the island’s youth, it is the older generations who have witnessed this change taking place.

Steven Bourne has fished the waters around Barbados all his life and lost two boats in Hurricane Beryl. While we are looking at the beach from the ruined beach house, he says that the sand of the island has moved in front of him.

“It’s the attack of the weather. You can see that it’s removing the beaches, but years ago you would be here, and you could see the edge of the water coming on the sand. Now you can’t because the sand is too compacted. .”

Coincidentally, in the same bar where I chatted with Steven was Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Abrahams, who is responsible for national disaster management.

I told him it must be a difficult time for disaster management in the Caribbean.

“The whole scene has changed,” he replied. “In the past, it was rare to get Category Five hurricanes every year. Now we get them every year. So the strength and frequency is a concern.”

Even hurricane season has changed, he says.

“We used to have a song that went: June, soon; July, standby; October, everywhere,” he tells me. Extreme weather events like Beryl have made such a concept obsolete.

“What we can expect has changed, what we have prepared for our whole lives and what our culture is built on has changed,” he adds.

Fisherman Steven Bourne had hoped to break before Beryl. Now, he says, he and the rest of the islanders have no choice but to carry on.

“Being scared or anything like that doesn’t make sense. Because there’s nowhere to go. We love this rock. And we’ll always be on this rock.”