Seafood Industry “Dying”!
Seafood Exporters are crying out for Government support as the first victim of the COVID-19 outbreak weeks before the first case was detected in Jamaica when Markets for live and frozen lobsters crashed in China. While Jamaica is a small player in the Chinese market, the closure of China meant that big exporters like Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand flooded other markets bringing prices below production costs.
This comes on the heels of the closure of the 2019/20 conch season by the Ministry of Industry Commerce Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF) leaving companies and the many fisher folk that depend on the Industrial Fishery, near collapse.
Time to Pay Back Now
The conch and lobster industries generate in excess of US$ 25 Million in exports per annum which trickles down to fishing communities island wide and to the many women employed in the processing facilities. To date the industry has received no support from the government, despite paying over US$ 7 million as a special export cess to the government. This cess is supposed to contribute to Fisheries Management and development but has not been used to support the Industrial Fishery which generates the resources.
The industry having suffered two (2) massive losses in its business operations over the last fourteen (14) months is calling for support from the Government. The seafood industry has been paying its way and not only earning well needed foreign exchange for the country, but providing employment and livelihoods to poor communities across the island. We are calling on the Government to support us now so that there is a future when things come back to normal.
Prior to the closure of the 2019/20 conch season, MICAF provided new guidelines for the issues of conch quotas which required companies to do capital investment in the upgrading of the fishing and processing facilities to qualify for quotas. Most companies borrowed to upgrade only to be told at the time quotas were to be issued that the season would be closed.
The closure of the 2019/20 conch season has resulted in a loss of earnings by seafood exporters in excess J$1billion dollars and US$500,000 to the Government by way of Cess on these exports. The closure of the season also affected members’ abilities to service bank loans and the real fear of losing personal assets after pledging these assets to upgrade their fishing and processing facilities as urged by MICAF. Additionally, more than eight hundred (800) permanent and seasonal workers lost jobs. Furthermore, more than five thousand (5,000) fishermen experienced reduced earnings.
The COVID-19 outbreak along with the closure of the 2019/20 conch season has been the perfect storm for the Seafood Industry. We are calling on the Government to step to the table now to support us through the storm so that we can come out at the other end able to meet market opening.
A. Stimulus for 2019 Closure of Conch Season US$7.500,000.00
B. If the conch season is not reopened in 2020 a further stimulus US$7,500.000.00
C. MOU as outlined by the industry to MICAF in March 2019 to modernize the industry to be immediately actioned
This stimulus package would go a far way to assist the seafood industry to recover bearing in mind that the main cause of the losses were in one instance being a policy instituted by the Government and the other being a pandemic caused by an international public health crisis.