The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp

@tribunemedia.net

All elements of the fisheries industry yesterday said earnings and profits have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown.

Anthony McKinney, Paradise Fisheries' president, told Tribune Business that the restaurant industry's closure had caused a substantial decline in the wholesaler's sales. "It's a major impact," he said. "In the meantime, what we have to do is basically once the country opens back up, in terms of getting the loss back, we can make enough profits to offset the losses we would have incurred.

As for the export market's prospects, Mr McKinney added: "I think the whole world is in the same situation. The only good thing about this is that it is not us alone. In terms of the export market, as soon as the world starts turning again we all will go back to normal, but it is a substantial loss. There is nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is that when it starts to move again you can work towards covering it."

Keith Carroll, the former Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance (BCFA) vice-chairman, said: "We can sell to the fish houses, but we just can't retail out on Montague and Potter's Cay dock. You wouldn't get as much from the fish houses as you would retail them yourselves; you would see a drop in the business.

"It wouldn't affect me much because I wholesale, but the guys on the Montague Ramp and on Potter's Cay dock, when you see them on the side of the road selling their fish, these are the guys who are affected."

Mr Carroll added that the restaurant industry's closure is "impacting everybody. The restaurants are the biggest sellers for boiled fish and where you sell your groupers to, so that is impacting everybody".

He called on the government to create a designated spot for fishermen to sell their goods, much like the farmer's market for agricultural produce. Mr Carroll said the fishermen who go out in the morning and come back in the evening, and retail their fish, "are no different" from farmers who bring their produce to the produce exchange or the farmer's market.

Paul Maillis, a director with the National Fisheries Association, has also called for a well-policed fish market similar to that of the farmer's market on Gladstone Road.

Mr Carroll added: "The vendors, they call me every day because they buy from me and they can resell. I mostly sell to the vendors, so it is affecting them. It is affecting me, too, but I can still go to the fish houses and sell. For them to go to the fish houses to buy and resell, they can get it cheaper from me."