Parottee residents thinking of possible relocation

Residents of Parottee, St Elizabeth, are divided over a Government proposal to relocate some households from the hurricane-ravaged fishing community. 

Some welcome the move as a necessary response to worsening coastal damage, while others insist they will never leave the sea that sustains them. The debate follows comments by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness during the National Housing Trust’s handover of 27 serviced lots in Malvern, also in the parish. He indicated that Parottee could be among the communities to benefit from relocation initiatives and container housing solutions following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa last October.

Among those supporting the possibility of relocation is one of the fisherfolk, Mary Linton.

“If you’re living in an area and where your house was devastated, yuh nuh expect say one house ago build back deh,” she said. Linton, 50, who has lived in Parottee her entire life, said Hurricane Melissa changed the community in ways she had never witnessed before. She argued that some residents had misunderstood Holness’s remarks, noting that he appeared to be referring to families whose homes were severely damaged and could no longer safely be rebuilt. 

“My house never damage but me woulda want him move me. Weh mi experience wid the sea? Me woulda want him move me,” she told THE WEEKEND STAR. 

While she acknowledged concerns about how relocation could affect the fishing industry, Linton believes residents should consider any option that offers greater security.

“If yuh have fi move, yuh move. A fi we better and we children and we grandchildren,” she said. 

Another resident, Shernet ‘Nadine’ Linton, argued that the threat posed by future storms outweighs the desire to remain in the community. 

“Mi nuh wah stay and den one next storm go come and wash we weh,” she said. 

The vendor, who works on the Pedro Cays, said years of coastal erosion have dramatically altered the landscape. 

“One time we have over three acres of land from the road to the sea. Yuh see now we barely have nothing because the sea take in a lot of land and house round a back,” she said.

She added that during periods of high tide, seawater now crosses sections of the roadway.

Linton said severe weather has become a source of constant anxiety.

“We nuh used to dah Parottee deh. So if we affi tek the piece a land, mi nuh mind.”

However, fisherman Owen Smith said relocating inland would create major challenges for people whose livelihoods depend on immediate access to the sea. 

“We ago feel uncomfortable because normally yuh a fisherman and yuh have yuh boat inna the sea. Yuh get up a nighttime and yuh go circle the beach,” he said. “Yuh have people who thief boat and so fi move drugs, so yuh affi deh near it. It gonna be awkward as a fisherman. I want to be close to my livelihood.” 

He also argued that Parottee should not be singled out. 

“Melissa came in our backyard, so if it went anywhere on the coastline, if it did fi happen, then they too would have felt it,” Smith said. “So you can’t look at just us. It could have happen on the north coast too. We not moving.”