Peter Espeut (left), environmentalist and executive director of the Caribbean Coastal Area Management, peruses a copy of The Gleaner with National Commercial Bank Foundation Chairman Thalia Lyn (second left) and foundation board member Irene Walter, at yesterday's tour of the Rocky Point fishing village in Clarendon. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

The Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM) has successfully completed phase one of a $10-million post-Hurricane Dean fisheries recovery programme for the community of Rocky Point, Clarendon.

In phase one of the project, C-CAM used $8 million to provide fish wire, build latrines, train fishermen and restore their emergency radio system.

In the second phase, the remaining $2 million is to be used in partnership with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and the Jamaica Red Cross to focus on disaster preparedness plans for the vulnerable fishing communities of Rocky Point, Portland Cottage, Salt River, Mitchell Town, Lionel Town and Old Harbour Bay.

Disaster relief warehouse

Some of the money will also be used to establish a disaster-relief warehouse of supplies such as water, non-perishable items and tarpaulins. It will also fund the preparation of handbooks to be used as guides in times of disaster and conduct training seminars for fisherfolk.

AIC/National Commercial Bank (NCB) Chairman Michael Lee Chin, whose financial group funded the programme, congratulated C-CAM while addressing fisherfolk from Rocky Point and Portland Cottage at the Monymusk Sugar Estate in Clarendon, yesterday.

Efforts lauded

During a walkabout at the Rocky Point fishing beach, Lee Chin met several fishermen and women who had received money to replace fishing pots, boats and other equipment that were lost during the passage of the hurricane in August last year.

"I am pleased to see the interest you are taking in your welfare and your capacity to get up and start again in spite of the worst odds," Lee Chin said.

"In the event that we are struck by another hurricane in the future, I hope that this assistance will ensure better preparation and quicker recovery time."

C-CAM is headed by Executive Director Peter Espeut, an environmentalist who was assisted by the United States Agency for International Development in providing the wire for the fish pots at one-tenth of its usual cost.