The Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary is helping to ensure the sustainable livelihood of local fishers. Since 2011 we have seen a 1,300% increase in fish biomass and fishers are now catching more pounds of fish outside of the sanctuary than they were before within the Bay. Our snorkeling project will purchase equipment needed in order to establish an income generating snorkeling tour business which will support Sanctuary operations.
Oracabessa is primarily a fishing community with local fishers playing an important role in the social and economic fabric of the area. Unfortunately, these fishers' livelihoods are under threat. Jamaica's waters are some of the most overfished in the world, forcing fishers to spend more time and more resources chasing after a catch that is getting smaller and smaller. The reduced income from a smaller catch means families already on the brink are pushed further below the poverty line.
The goal of the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary is to increase bio-diversity and ensure a sustainable future for fishers. To date, the Sanctuary has seen tremendous improvements including: 1,313% increase in fish biomass; 153% increase in coral coverage; 43% reduction in algae coverage; and a 100% increase in pounds of fish caught per fisher effort. The snorkeling project will help to ensure the financial sustainability of the Sanctuary so it can continue to improve fishers' livelihoods.
The snorkeling shop will play a key role in the financial sustainability of the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary. This will allow fish stocks to further replenish, continue the increase in fisher catch (outside of the sanctuary of course!) and thereby increase the resiliency of 150 family incomes in the area. A sustainable fish sanctuary with a thriving snorkeling operation also gets us another step closer to a longer-term goal: fishers making more money from fish being alive than dead!
This project has provided additional documentation in a XLSX file (projdoc.xlsx).
