 on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources and Corporatives to welcome you here today. The department is delighted to have you with us to receive on behalf of eligible Fisher folk Islandwide a one-time grant of $500 to support Fisher folk amid the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you all for coming. And although we are having a bit of a late start, I think this is a very important ceremony to engage in. On behalf of the ministry, I also express deep appreciation and gratitude to the leadership of Fisher folk corporatives Islandwide for agreeing to facilitate the payment of the grant to both members and non-members of the Fisher folk cooperative societies. The global outbreak of the COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges for leaders at all levels in industries across the world. Your willingness to support the sector with this initiative is a true reminder of the old adage. Crisis does not build character, it reveals it. COVID-19, which was confirmed to have reached St. Lucia on March 13, 2020 is a significant threat to the livelihoods of all agricultural workers, including Fisher folk, as well as to food security. The initial safety measures put in place to stem the spread of COVID-19, such as cofuels, travel restrictions within country, and remember the infamous 759, 758, closed air and sea borders and states of emergency impacted the supply chain in various ways, including transportation and distribution logistics, demand and increased demand and reliable markets for fish by restaurants, hotels, wholesalers, processors, et cetera, reduce access to fish and exacerbated the issues of inadequate storage options and concerns about price of fish. The economic and social disruptions caused by the pandemic is devastating. Putting many people at risk, the lockdown left many unable to earn an income. For workers in the informal economy, the impacts can be felt almost immediately. The loss of income means that food security and overall well-being of the breadwinner and their family are under threat. A rapid assessment conducted by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism suggests that most of the fisher folk who responded to their survey conducted in May indicated that they could only manage one month before facing significant economic challenges. Recognizing that crew members may be most at risk, the ministry revised the initial support initiative to provide more equitable program that would benefit the boat owner and crew members. The department worked to ensure the process of selection was transparent and accountable. We determined eligibility using two primary criteria in keeping with the legal requirements outlined in the Fisheries Act. One, registered as official with the Department of Fisheries and captured on the 2019, 2020 and 2020, 2021, fishing license application as a boat owner or captain and crew associated with the vessel. The department recognizes that the grant will not on its own address the challenges being faced by the sector, nor the root cause of the economic impacts of COVID-19. As such, it is critical that we continue to encourage, empower and enable our fishing community to protect themselves and others using every tool at their disposal to sustain their livelihoods. I take the opportunity to wish all everyone here the best for you and your family's health and safety during these difficult times. I am very pleased to be here this morning to receive this income support on behalf of San Diego Fisher Folk and my primary society. I am pleased because the sector has taken a hit back in, well, I already said when Fisher Folk couldn't have gone out for a whole week. And I say a week because when you're not working for a week, that means that there's no income and I've been hearing people say it's only a week but like civil servants and anybody else when the pay is not in the bank account, the late or two days late, they start to speak out. And I'm saying this because I'm a self-employed person and when my income is being stifled, I feel the pain. I just want to say thank you to the permanent secretary for reaching out to me about two months ago and we strive on consultation. But he, you know, suddenly to consult me when the stimulus package, well, what they actually decided on the $900, well, it was more or less a voucher to the boat owners, when they revised it and they said that, you know, we wouldn't have met the, you know, we wouldn't have reached out to the crew and you know, given each Fisher $500, well, each registered Fisher that is $500, it would have made a greater impact. And I want to, you know, say thank you, Mr. Permanent Secretary for that. Lately we have seen with the deficient sector that all Fisher folk that consultation is the key. I stand here and I should think that every one of you knew or know what happened a couple of weeks ago where there was no consultation between the sector and the relevant authorities as to what happened and what it actually brought out of this. You know, the general public was, and Fisher folk were, you know, very much disgruntled as to what really transpired. And I employ the relevant authorities to engage Fisher folk because Fisher folk is the governing body for all Fisher, I'm fishing, I'm fishing, I'm sorry, the, the, the, the, the, the private, so, Fisher folk is the governing body for all the primary societies. So when you consult Fisher folk, when you engage Fisher folk, we are better able to make decisions more applicable to the deficient industry. So I want to say thank you for inviting me here. And I'm very much pleased. Thank you. Let me bring on warm greetings on behalf of the Honorable Minister Ezekiel Joseph, the minister responsible for fisheries. Regrettably, he could not be here today, but of course he extends his sincerest and warmest regards. Today, we are pleased as a department of agriculture, fisheries, natural resources and cooperatives to be part of the rollout and to deliver on our income, our COVID response plan, and adjusted what was input support to now income support to the Fisher's. So initially the idea was to provide $900 with a fuel to both of us owners. And since having consultations with the various cooperatives, we found it to be more equitable to provide that support to eligible Fisher's, both owners and group. So we see that it would have impacted a larger number of persons and created a greater impact. So that is why we did it. COVID, novel coronavirus new. We have to change our behavior. We have to change our lifestyles and we have to learn to adapt and live with the pandemic. What we have sought to do is to create that environment for Fisher's folks from the onset. Mr. Stevens spoke about not going to see for a week, but the Department of Agriculture was open always to provide the access to the sea so that Fisher's could go out. We had to liaise with the police, the Marine unit and of course the protocols for the lighthouse to enable Fisher's to move from their homes to the sea and back during the virus to ensure that we receive the vital protein and the food and nutrition that we require. At that time also there was a concern about the country shutting down, country was shut down and availability of food and fresh protein and fish. So against that backdrop, you have to ensure that the country and the people are nourished and they are healthy in the face of a pandemic. So that was one reason. And of course ensuring the livelihoods and income and Fisher's, even though you heard about the 758, 759 and in some cases 760, access was provided to Fisher's even though in a localized context for them to move around and apply their trade. So that was the environment created by the Department of Agriculture. We have also recently witnessed the handing over of about 200 GHF radios. Safety is of paramount concern to us at the Department to ensure that the Fisher's go out and they come in safely. So that is another milestone that we achieved most recently to ensure that our sons and daughters who go out to fish there is some degree of assurance or some mechanism to assist them when they enter deep water. So to you would have heard that the Department in collaboration with the office of the Prime Minister we are exploring the installation of vessel monitoring systems on boats. And that is for a dedicated reason. We want to ensure that of course it has an emergency function that you can track the vessels and to ensure that we have a continuous record of the routes that the vessels play so that we know where they are and we know how to assist if in case we can or need to assist. So these are some of the initiatives being undertaken by the government of San Muxia to ensure the safety of Fisher's. However, we heard of market access, declining income, restriction on markets, the quantities that we were able to sell pre-COVID and other quantities we can sell now and we need. So Fisher's there's a law to enter into other activities to bring in quick sources of income. And we as representatives I need to warn our members against such practices, members and non-members of the cooperatives. And I'm pleased that the cooperatives have through the payment system encouraged non-members to make a way of encouraging non-members to participate in the cooperative and strengthen the communication between all Fisher's. But we need to ensure that the persons who go out to see that they engage in legitimate activities. And I'm saying this because it is risky for maybe a few dollars more. You are at risk of losing your life, you are at risk of losing your vessel. You are, even if you have not, there's a contact tracing. You could be quarantined for two weeks and you still lose two weeks income. So there are a lot of demerits when you go out there and engage in such activity. So the law is there, quick money, but in the end is it really worth it. So we need to tell our members and express to them the concerns about engaging in other activities that are non-fishing activities. The COVID support provided to Fisher's, we had to engage in a lot of discussion, collaboration and negotiation of the Department of Finance. If you look within our 2020 to 2021 budget, the funds dedicated to our COVID plan has not been released. So we had to approach them to get a special provision for Fisher's to enable that kind of support to come through. It took a long time, but we're here now when I'm pleased that it has come through for the Fisher's. So we are still working to provide relief to all other agricultural stakeholders, everybody. We have seen support for other farmers in other areas and we see support now for Fisher's. So that is our commitment to you to ensure your safety, to ensure your livelihoods, albeit in a scaled down environment as the economy, we try to keep the economy open and we try to reopen all sectors and resume some degree of normalcy in operations. So I would like to thank the Prime Minister, the Honorable Minister for Agriculture, the peers of finance who made this release of funds possible, the accountant general for facilitating the quick processing of the checks and the finances for us to be here today. And of course, the staff of the Department of Fisheries of the, and of course, most of all, the Fisher's who have been so very patient, so very patient for what has been forthcoming for a long time. So the Department of Fisheries, we continue to seek your support. We assure you of our commitment to partner, collaborate and of course the wood consultation, to consult with you and it is an engagement that we have to journey on together. We are united, we can do it. If we do it individually, there will not be any success. So I thank you all for your patience, I thank you for your support. May God bless and keep you safe.