In December, there was a national uproar when Jamaican Fishermen came to Belize in fishing boats. It was a partnership with the Rio Grande Fishing Co-Op in Punta Gorda, but nobody wanted to hear that. All anyone knew is that Toledo's already stressed fish-stocks were about to come under even greater pressure.
Well, the boats are gone, but the Jamaicans are still here. We found out what they've been up to when our Codie Norales went to Punta Gorda for a town meeting today.
Jules Vasquez Reporting
In December when these Jamaican fishing boats arrived in Belize there was a huge uproar. The feeling was that the Jamaican fishermen were here to clean out Belize's waters.
Belizean Fisherman
"My concern is about these fishermen and the boat from Jamaica coming into the waters of Belize for fishing. I don't think we need any more fishermen. We have more than enough right here in Belize."
But the sentiment has either changed or been muted. Today fishermen gathered at the Punta Gorda Civic Center to endorse the PG Fisheries Company, which is an effort of those same Jamaican Fishermen.
The catch now is they don't want to fish. They want to process and export fish.
Derek Osbourne, PG Fisheries Company
"As a company, we will not be fishing. We are not interested in fishing. The boats went back to Jamaica. All we are interested in right now is to buy fish and export."
And now, these Jamaicans have started their own company because the joint venture with PG's Rio Grande Co-Op has been scrapped because of the flap about these boats.
Derek Osbourne, PG Fisheries Company
"Environmentalists along with the government and a lot of people said get out of here, so the boat went, the boat was the joint so the joint popped so the venture left. So right now we have an agreement. We will work alongside with Rio Grande. We will process their fishery product because, guess what, right now we are helping in the Sea Cucumber. We are storing and we are benefitting right now from that plant."
That plant is this place, it's fully outfitted for fish processing and Osbourne said they spent half a million dollars to build it.
Derek Osbourne, PG Fisheries Company
"Over 50 person have applied for jobs and we have trained them in food safety and right now they are waiting to start work but we are unable to do that because we are not allowed an export license permit."
And that employment tie in is what has brought the PG Mayor Floyd Lino wholeheartedly on board.
Floyd Lino, Mayor of Punta Gorda Town
"So I am here today to support of the cooperative and for this agreement to move forward, for the investment to be granted their export license, because I am certain that these gentlemen are law abiding citizens and the jobs that we so are dire in need of in Punta Gorda and Toledo District as an extension. This is one step towards getting some of those jobs. We are forging this relationship to ensure that this facility, this factory remains in Punta Gorda. I do not see why we are putting so many red tapes of precautions to slow down the development that is coming to this district. I believe that the time has come where if we are going to develop in a sustainable manner we need to balance the environmental development with the economic development of our people because fish is living and they are getting fat but people are starving."
And that sentiment of local concerns over expatriate environmentalists is certainly being played up by the fisheries company. We'll have more on it as we present Part II of this story in tomorrow night's newscast, when we'll tell you what the Jamaicans really want, which is an export license. And why they haven't gotten it so far.
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