This Easter’s fish market has been left reeling as fisherfolk face dwindling catches, storm-damaged boats, and environmental challenges, leading to a sharp decline in fresh fish supplies during one of the year’s busiest seasons, Barbados TODAY has learned.
Barbadian meals, particularly on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, are steeped in cultural custom, often centred around catches of flying fish, dolphin (mahi mahi), and primarily reef-dwelling potfish. Yet this year, supply chains have collapsed under the weight of environmental disruption.
Several months after Hurricane Beryl swept through the region, vendors are still dealing with the storm’s lingering impact. Damaged boats, silted landing sites, and unpredictable marine conditions have all contributed to the season’s downturn. Fisherfolk reported dramatically reduced catches, an inability to meet demand, and economic hardship during what should be one of the most profitable periods of the year.
Heavy rainfall, persistent rough seas, and unpredictable winds have kept many vessels docked, fisherfolk told Barbados TODAY. Chief Fisheries Officer Shelly-Ann Cox also cited widespread sargassum seaweed blooms — which have plagued the island’s eastern and southern coasts since 2011 — as a significant factor in declining yields.
“This season has been very, very poor,” said Jean Millington, a long-standing vendor at the Berinda Cox Fish Market in Oistins. “We’re not getting any fish — none of the boats bringing in marlin, barely any dolphin, and the flying fish we do get are expensive.”
With fewer fresh catches available, Millington, like many others in the market, has had to rely on processors to source frozen fish.
“We’re buying 100 flying fish for $275 and selling what we can — there’s not much else to do,” she added. Compared to previous years, she estimates her sales are down by about 20 per cent.
Joshua Greene, another vendor who typically sells a wide range of seafood, said business has dropped even more sharply. “It’s been slow because there’s not a lot of boats out,” he said. “Right now, the wind is strong too, so the divers are not going out. You’re not really seeing seacat, turpits, snappers — none of the fish people normally look for this time of year.”
Greene estimates a 50 to 60 per cent fall in turnover compared to previous years. “It’s not like before,” he said. “There isn’t much foot traffic in the market and not as many boats coming in. It’s first come, first served — if you’re not here when the boats land, you miss out.”
Antonia Sargent Rowe, managing director of Rowe Pots Fresh Fish, echoed similar concerns, pointing squarely at the fallout from Hurricane Beryl.
“We were looking forward to a good season, to be honest, but because of the hurricane that passed and the boats being repaired, it’s just not going to be like last year,” Rowe said. “They’re trying their best — going out and searching for fish — but they’re not getting as much as they would normally get for Easters past. We don’t know if it is the weather or climate change; we don’t know the cause . . . The winds are not up to standard for the fishermen to go out . . . We hope that the weather dies down so the fishermen can go out and ply their trade and bring in fish for us to sell. Since Beryl, everything just looked topsy-turvy. The weather, the atmosphere — it all changed. I say it all the time: Beryl took everything with her — the boats, the fish, everything.”
Holy Week typically brings high demand for dolphin, flying fish and marlin — all of which are now in short supply.
“So things have been slow . . . That’s why you’re not seeing many people at the market,” Rowe added. “They call ahead and ask: ‘Do you have fresh fish?’ If we only get a hundred pounds, that’s gone in a jiffy. So the walk-ins get nothing.”
Currently available fish include:
– Flying fish: $35–$40 per pack of ten
– Marlin (steak fish): $11 per pound
– Swordfish and kingfish: $13 per pound
– Billfish: $10 per pound
– Turpits: $30 per package (when available)
– Dolphin: Limited quantities; price varies based on catch
Other popular species such as amberfish, barracuda, whole turpits, and snapper remain elusive — the result of both climatic disruption and fewer boats going to sea.
Cox confirmed that flying fish and dolphin landings have continued to decline since the arrival of recurring sargassum seaweed blooms in 2011 — a pattern that is now being compounded by other climatic and logistical challenges.
“It’s a combination of factors,” Cox said. “But since 2011 and the sargassum influxes came in, we’ve seen decreased landings in flying fish and dolphin fish. There has been a kind of decrease in tuna as well — that could be a combination of factors too.”
She added that a significant number of fishing vessels have not returned to sea following the damage caused by Beryl.
“All the boats still have not been launched back into the water. So the fishing effort too is not up to the ideal number — yes — but still enough that people would get fish for Holy Thursday.”
Cox said the Fisheries Division continues to receive regular updates from field officers and data collectors stationed around the island about low catches, not seeing fish in traditional fishing spots and other issues.
While climate change, ocean temperature shifts and migration pattern disruptions may be at play, Cox noted that no single cause can yet be definitively identified.
“You can’t pin it down to one thing in particular — not at this time unless you do the research,” she said. “But there have been observations of a lot of different factors . . . And then there’s the severe influx of sargassum that we’re seeing right now.”
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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