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A Following extensive damage to ships caused by Hurricane Beryl, leading boat builders are calling on governments to use the current fishing shutdown to develop boat construction codes and implement inspection programmes.
Veteran boat builder Clinton Boy Wiltshire told Barbados Today that 65 percent of the boats in the Bridgetown fishing complex were “substandard,” which he believes was a key factor in the massive devastation caused by the storm surge on July 1. The government estimates that up to 70 percent of the fishing boats anchored in Bridgetown to avoid the hurricane were damaged or destroyed.
“We have to set up a system to stop building ‘sandwich boats,'” Wiltshire said. “Sandwich boats are made of Nida-Core or clay panels. If the boat is made of half-inch solid fiberglass, it’s much stronger and can withstand anything that hits it, versus an eighth-inch or a quarter-inch of fiberglass inside and a quarter-inch outside with foam panels or plastic called Nida-Core in the middle.”
He added: “It can’t handle more than 40 pounds of weight when it hits it. 40 pounds and above will put a hole in it because it can only handle 3 or 4 pounds per square inch. A lot of these boats are sandwich boats, almost 65% of them are sandwich boats.”
Mr Wiltshire criticised some craftsmen for “cutting materials to save money” and said they would “just give you something that looks good”. He urged the implementation of building standards: “That’s why we need building standards, not now but later.”
The boat builders also called for regular inspections, suggesting: “The fisheries department should also check these boats every year and inspect them, and now that the boats have been salvaged, the fisheries department can come and inspect them. Before anyone takes the boats back to the sea, they should be inspected. No one can build boats as they please or just patch up the broken parts without doing it properly.”
Blue Economy Minister Adrian Forde announced on Monday that 220 of the 312 boats in the fleet were damaged or destroyed following the passage of Cyclone Beryl. The government has set up two temporary docks, one behind the Kensington Shopping Centre along Fontabel and the other near the BICO cold storage facility on Harbour Road, to facilitate repairs.
Ship owners are struggling to cope with the financial impact of the damage.
Charles Inniss, who is waiting for his boat to be assessed, said: “There are schemes in the works that will help us. We were told (the government) will help us with 25 per cent of the cost of repairs, but when is that going to happen? I don’t know.”
Emerald Holder, who owns three boats, faces repair bills of nearly $100,000.
“It’s been a huge loss for me and I’m at the end of my rope,” he told Barbados Today. “I have workers to pay, my employees don’t have jobs and I’m helping them with their family needs but I’m also trying to help myself.”
Keith Jones, whose small wooden boat needs repairs estimated to cost $10,000, said he is in “no rush” to resume operations because of the forecast for an active hurricane season.
The impact on local fish supplies is already being felt.
While frozen fish is still available, boat owners report consumers are “suffering” due to a shortage of fresh fish. sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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