Hurricane Beryl Devastates Fishing Industry, Threatens Food Security: Government Assures Support and Assessment

Category 4 Hurricane Beryl has dealt a “horrific” blow to the fishing industry, crucial to the island’s food security and economy, ministers declared on Monday.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley described Beryl’s impact as “horrifying” during a visit to the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex, where unprecedented high surf had sunk or severely damaged several fishing boats.

Mottley, accompanied by senior officials including Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams and Minister of the Environment and National Beautification Adrian Forde, assured distraught boat owners that her government would provide assistance following a proper assessment of the damage.

“We can’t do an assessment today,” she stated, citing dangerous water conditions and urging divers to begin work on Tuesday morning.

Mottley called for the complex to be cleaned and cordoned off to facilitate assessment and related works.

“There is too much damage and too much debris that can cause somebody to end up at A&E [Accident and Emergency Department]. Therefore, we are asking the police to put caution tape and nobody who has no business out there should be out there. We want, by tomorrow morning, at least a clean area behind there, so that whatever else we have to do, we can do safely,” she said.

The PM added: “Once we finish securing the area, then we have to clean it up and make it clean for people to come and do their business. But this is clearly an exercise that will take some days or weeks in order for us to even get to the beginning of it.”

Kurtis Watson, a veteran fisherman, predicted further destruction due to the unusually high waves.

“Right now all of the boats are being destroyed because the sea swells just coming over the wall and mashing up the boats,” he warned.

The prime minister emphasised the need for immediate action, warning of another approaching weather system.

“I am told there are still a few boats in there that have not been damaged, and we to be able to see if we can get those boats out and put into the inner careenage,” she said.

The PM disclosed that consideration was being given to relocating some of the boats to the Shallow Draft Facility at the Bridgetown Port.

Environment Minister Adrian Forde labelled the situation “horrific and devastating”, pointing to it as stark evidence of climate change. “This is a fact check; and the fact check is that what we see before us is real,” Forde told Barbados TODAY.