Vendors want facelift for Twickenham Park Fish Market

Some vendors at the Twickenham Park Fish Market in St Catherine are counting their blessings after they managed to escape the reach of a tree that fell on a section of the facility two weeks ago.

Weird screams coming from the direction of the poinciana tree, which towers over the freshwater fish market, alerted vendors to the impending danger.

Campbell, one of the vendors, said about six persons were in the area where the tree fell. He told THE STAR that their story could have been different had they not paid attention to the fact that a piece of board had fallen from the tree, and that Mother Nature sounded an ominous warning.

"When the board drop, me hear the tree cry," Campbell said. "Me run out come look, because me seh a muss some pressure why it a cry, and by time me run out fi look, a di tree dat me see a bend back. Me tell the rest a dem seh di tree a go drop. A suh now me call out to everybody fi come out," he related.

In a split second, the tree came crashing down. It slammed into the roof of the building, forcing the structure to bow into submission. One vendor, Marva, who has been selling in the market for the past 20 years, said she has been shaken up by the incident.

"Me a tell yuh the truth, me did deh pon the phone and me really nah pay it nuh mind. Me only hear a man call out to me and say fi move 'cause the tree a guh drop," Marva said.

"I was sitting right here, under the tarpaulin, and it just drop down. Me get some bruise up pon me knee, and my back a hurt me. I was so frightened, me heart a tremble inside a me. Everyweh a hurt me," the vendor added.

The damaged section of the market adds to the mounting problems that vendors want addressed. They told THE STAR that the facility, built some 30 years ago, is in need of a facelift.

"This nuh look good, is like dem nuh memba we. We feel neglected," said a vendor, who pointed to the faded sign on the front of the market of evidence of abandonment.

The Twickenham Park Fish Market is known for its sale of tilapia, a freshwater fish that the Government has been encouraging Jamaicans to consume. The fish, which is produced on local fish farms, is said to be low in fat and a good source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. For years, Twickenham Park was the main tilapia spot in the Corporate Area, but that has changed.

Robert Hayden and Aedian Robinson, vendors who have made the fishing business their sole trade since they were teenagers, lament that the Twickenham Park Fish Market has been deserted due to more young persons venturing into fisheries, and others going straight to the farmers to seek the products they need.

"Once upon a time this was the only place fi get tilapia, but now it deh everyweh a sell. Dis deh inaa everybody backyard, inna everybody fridge, dis deh ina dem trunk," Robinson said.

He said that their survival is directly linked to the price at which fish is being sold to them.

"We need the farmer dem fi sell it cheaper. Nothing nah really gwane for us," Robinson said, while adding that the facility getting a facelift could help vendors like himself tread water a bit longer.