“Spearfishing: A Large and Growing Threat to Jamaica's Marine Fishable Resources”

Karl Aiken

Department of Life Sciences 

In the 1980s Munro noted that spearfishing was becoming an increasingly important economic activity in the Caribbean. He stated that this was as a result of socioeconomic factors related to underemployment and the low capital outlay for equipment. This method of fishing appeared to be highly attractive as it offered income-earning capacity to otherwise unskilled or impoverished individuals. 

According to Munro, spearfishing was also attractive in terms of its effects on the management of the natural resources. This was so as spearfishing activities leaned towards the harvesting of the oldest, largest and least productive members of the fish community, leaving the younger and more productive members, thereby promoting conservation of the stock. In citing an example of the benefits of spearfishing, Munro noted that some 67% of the production of spiny lobsters in Belize at the time was derived from spearfishing, and that the spearfishing community appeared to be one of the most prosperous sectors in that economy. 

Despite Munro's observations on the benefits of spearfishing in Caribbean countries, some studies have also shown that spearfishing has been implicated in the local extinction of some species. One such example is the Goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) on the Caribbean island of Bonaire.

The first spearfishing study in Jamaica, conducted by Deandra Passley in 2009, showed that spearfishing accounted for a major portion of the country's annual fisheries production. Focusing on fishermen that were "regulars" at beaches around the island, that study obtained data on the amount, size and type of fish caught, where fishing was most frequently carried out, and how dependent fishermen were on their spearfishing activities. The results showed, however, that spearfishing in Jamaica was more widely practised than was first expected. The results were so surprising that a second follow-up spearfishing study (the present paper) was arranged in conjunction with the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries. 

What the follow-up study found in 2011, from interviewing 148 fishers at 85 beaches around Jamaica's coastline, was again quite stunning. Most spearfishers averaged 36 years old. Though 50% used spears only, the other half supplemented their spearfishing income by using nets, fish traps (pots), and line fishing, revealing a surprising and unexpected diversity of fishing methods in a group previously considered specialists. The researchers discovered a terrible and unacceptable phenomenon called "Night Spearing". Sleeping reef fishes, that had no chance of escape, were killed by spearfishers with lights who roamed the same reefs that had already been heavily fished in the daytime. Shockingly, an average of 25% of all fishers confessed to night spearing. This activity was quickly reported and even before the study ended, the researchers made immediate recommendations for its banning, which the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries implemented. 

The study found that spearfishers accounted for some of the most intense fishing effort ever reported, with most fishing every single day of the year in trips lasting an average of four hours. The majority of the spear fishers, 75%, used mostly powerful commercial spear guns. This fishing intensity was another significant surprise to researchers, as levels of other types of fishing were already known to be high. Mean spearing catches were a surprising 18 kg per spear fisher per trip, which is much higher than the mean fish pot catch per trip. Most commonly targeted were the parrot fishes and grunts, the former being relatively common on Jamaica's overfished reefs. It must be noted that the more valuable predacious snappers and groupers dominate most other well-managed Caribbean fisheries. 

The research also revealed that lobsters, conchs, octopuses, lionfishes and even squids were taken along with fishes, strongly indicating that spearfishers took any and every marine species of value they observed. Related to this was the estimated average annual economic value of catch per spearfisher, which was a very surprising and impressive US$20,000 per annum. This substantial return on investment makes spearfishing attractive, especially as it requires little capital outlay when compared with any other type of fishing except industrial lobster and conch fishing, which latter requires a large capital outlay.

The research team also found that fully 50% of all spearfishers would have some alternative fishing equipment to rely on if spearfishing were banned. However, many thought it should not be completely banned but instead, properly managed. Lastly, the researchers discovered a new fishing method whereby a net was used to close off a small area of the reef, following which a party of spearfishers would methodically kill all the trapped fishes. This was another unsustainable fishing practice that should be banned.

This second spearfishing study confirmed virtually all the major findings of the 2009 study, and reaffirmed that this sub-sector was much larger than expected. There were some 2,000 practitioners, constituting about 10% of all known fishers in the island. This is approximately ten times more than was estimated in
the 1980s. It is not certain what has caused this large increase in spearfishers. However, discussions with economists have suggested that the relatively high national unemployment levels, the continued relatively poor state of the national economy, as well as high fishing-gear theft rates at sea, and high pot-fishing gear costs, have all combined to create the expansion of this sub-sector. Disturbingly, the researchers are certain that this expansion will continue without controls in the immediate future. This unmanaged expansion is unsustainable in many ways, but particularly so because Jamaica's living marine resources cannot sustain these high fishing levels for much longer.

At a special 2012 workshop it was recommended that all spearfishers be registered, and the government give consideration to imposing a programme of phased banning of all spearfishing. The UWI has continued, through this and other fisheries projects, to work closely and well with the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries in order to create a sustainable fishing industry and thereby secure future seafood for this nation.

Dr Karl Aiken has been lecturing at the UWI, Mona on fisheries and aquaculture matters for more than 30 years. A keen conservationist, he was a co-founder in 1988 of the Jamaica Conservation & Development Trust.