FOOD FOR THE POOR HONOURS OUTSTANDING FISHERFOLK :The five outstanding fishers in the Food For The Poor Fishing Village Projects, who won awards share a camera moment with some Food For The Poor (FFP) executives during a Presentation Exercise at Lyssons Beach in St. Thomas on Friday, June 28. (From right) Vanbury “Vannie” Levy of Manchioneal Fishing Village, Portland who achieved first prize;Trevor Bagnold, Annotto Bay Fishing Village, St. Mary; Marva Espuet, Lyssons Fishing Village, St. Thomas;Clive “Hutchy” Johnson of Manchioneal Fishing Village; and Brad “Puddy” Blair, Seven Miles Fishing Village, St. Andrew; Jacqueline Johnson, Executive Director, FFP; Nakhle Hado (partially hidden), Technical Fishing Manager, FFP; and Selena Ledgister-Kellier, Agriculture and Fishing Manager, FFP. Food For The Poor presented each of the five awardees with a Certificate of Excellence, a new Yamaha 40 HP outboard engine, cooler for storing fish and gas tank. They received additional prizes of life jacket vests and spark plugs from Yamaha Jamaica Ltd. Friday’s Awards Ceremony was held at a time when the world is observing Fishermen / Seafarers Awareness Week.
Five Fisherfolk Achieve Food For The Poor Top Awards
Lyssons, St. Thomas- June 28, 2013: Food For The Poor this afternoon acknowledged and rewarded fisherfolk who have demonstrated excellence in deep-sea fishing and business practices that are ecologically and economically sound, during 2012 - 2013. To this end, the charity hosted a presentation ceremony at the Lyssons Fishing Village in St. Thomas.
The event comes a time when Jamaica and the rest of the world is observing Fishermen/ Seafarers Awareness Week from June 24 - 30, which highlights the pivotal role fishers play in the economy and the lives of citizens.
Out of the 200 fishers who are attached to Food For The Poor’s 16 Fishing Villages islandwide, five outshone their colleagues to walk away with the top awards. Vanbury “Vannie” Levy of Manchioneal Fishing Village, Portland achieved first prize, while his colleague attached to the same Fishing Village, Clive “Hutchy” Johnson walked away with second prize. Mr. Levy also copped the Awards of Excellence for the ‘Best Fisherman’ and the ‘Best Catch’ for the period 2012-2013.
Third to fifth prizes went to the following fisherfolk respectively: Brad “Puddy” Blair, Seven Miles Fishing Village, St. Andrew; Marva Espuet, Lyssons Fishing Village, St. Thomas; and Trevor Bagnold, Annotto Bay Fishing Village, St. Mary.
For their prizes, Food For The Poor presented each of the five awardees with a Certificate of Excellence, a new Yamaha 40 HP outboard engine, a cooler for storing fish and a gas tank. They received additional prizes of life jacket vests and spark plugs from Yamaha Jamaica Ltd.
Nakhle Hado, Technical Fishing Manager, Food For The Poor (FFP), described the champion fisherman, Vanbury Levy, as a “versatile fisherman” who catches an average of 835 pounds of fish per month. In commending Mr. Levy, the FFP Technical Fishing Manager declared, “Congratulations for the hardwork and seriousness you have brought to fishing.”
The only female fisher among the awardees, Marva Espeut, also came in for special commendation at the presentation exercise. She catches an average of 570 pounds of fish per month, and remains unfazed by challenges including a near death experience when her boat overturned off the Morant Cays. Ms. Espeut who is a mother of three, cried for joy as she collected her Certificate of Excellence. In her response on behalf of the awardees, she thanked Food For The Poor for introducing her to deep-sea fishing techniques, and gushed, “It has improved my life.” She also praised the tithing system which FFP has established in all its Fishing Villages, whereby each fisher contributes a monthly tithe to a community development fund which is used to assist the less fortunate members of the community and undertake development projects. Ms. Espeut recounted that there are many children in her Fishing Village of Lyssons who would not have been able to attend school without assistance from the tithing system of the fishers. The fisherwoman reported that many houses have been roofed as a result of the system.
Mr. Nakhle Hado explained the selection process for the awardees: “We have been training and assessing the fishermen in all our fishing villages, so we are in a position to know those who have shown improvement in their knowledge, skills and practices. We are rewarding those who have been consistent in their productivity and environmentally-friendly fishing techniques.”
Not only does FFP provide fishers with equipment and infrastructure at the Fishing Beaches, but monitor their record keeping activities, to evaluate whether they are putting into practice the lessons taught to them on how to manage their earnings and maintain profits, while attending to their living expenses.
The FFP Technical Fishing Director expressed the hope that the FFP Presentation Exercise would serve as an incentive for the fishermen, as well as members of their communities. “We want to demonstrate that fishermen can achieve an improvement in their livelihood, through sustainable fishing practices,” said Mr. Hado.
Among those participating in today’s event were Jacqueline Johnson, Executive Director, FFP; Ron Burgess, Senior Director, Recipient Services, FFP; Selena Ledgister-Kellier, Agriculture and Fishing Manager, FFP; Assistant Superintendent Oral Foster, Marine Police Division; Lieutenant Leonard Wynter, Assistant Operations Officer, JDF Coast Guard; Gary Isaacs, Chief Fisheries Instructor, Fisheries Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Llewelyn Meggs, Conservation Director, Jamaica Environment Trust (JET).
Since 2000, FFP has established fishing villages across the island where fisherfolk are able to access proper fishing equipment such as boats, engines and gears necessary for deep-sea fishing. Gear sheds have also been established for storage of equipment, and coolers and freezers provided to help fishers better store and preserve their catch. FFP also trains fishermen in the several skills including: safety at sea, navigation, deep-water fishing, technical fishing, business management and environment protection. As a result, fishermen are able to improve their productivity and better market their catch.
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Food For The Poor (FFP)-Jamaica is the largest charity organization in the country. Food For The Poor Inc., located in Florida, USA, was named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as the largest international relief and development organization. FFP provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 95% of all donations going directly to programmes that help the poor. For more information visit our Web site at www.foodforthepoorja.com
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