MONTEGO BAY, St James — As they waited Tuesday to see what damage, if any, Tropical Storm Rafael did to their equipment out at sea, Montego Bay’s fishers could not help but think about the Hurricane Beryl-inflicted losses that are still a heavy burden for many of them to bear.

According to director of the Montego Bay Fisherman’s Cooperative Donald Bell, while he and his members appreciate the help they received to bounce back, it was far from enough.

“Whenever a fisherman builds a net for $500,000 and gets a vessel for $2 million and 30 traps for $750,000 and the reimbursement is a $100,000, that maths don’t maths up,” he told the Jamaica Observer Tuesday morning.

As he spoke he kept a watchful eye on the shoreline. At the time it was calm, the skies were cloudy but Rafael had not yet dumped much rain on the western city. But Bell knew that it would be a totally different story out at sea and their pots and traps were once again in danger of being decimated or washed away.

“You have fisherfolks who have a number of fish traps, who couldn’t get to remove all of them. There are fisherfolks down here with 30, 40 traps; they couldn’t move all those,” he explained.

One elderly fisherman, who was also on the beach, expressed his fears.

“I had five pots out there in Beryl and two damage because they were set in the rock area. Now I have to wait and see with these other ones,” said the man who asked not to be identified by name.

Another of his peers, who opted not to give his name, is also eager to know the fate of his equipment.

“If the weather hold up, probably by a morning I roll out the boat and go and check,” he said.

It has been a challenging year for fisherfolk in the western city. They were impacted by a weather system in February, then came Beryl in July and on Tuesday it was Rafael. Bell thinks staying afloat will be challenging for some of his members who still had equipment in the water as the tropical storm approached.

“Look at a man that builds nets, him have to find money now to buy back 200 pounds of net and it is $14,000 for 10 pounds alone. It is $600 a pound for lead, and to make the nets he is going to need at least 120 pounds of lead. You are talking about nearly a million dollars to just get net,” he lamented.

“So when him lose his nets and you look at him and only give him $65,000, that is very small compared to what is required,” Bell added.

He accepts that it is unreasonable to expect their losses to be totally covered but argued that the amount being provided for recovery needs to increase.

“When someone loses 57 traps and only get a $100,000, that small bad. We want some more support so that when someone loses $1.9 million in a boat, they can get back more than just a $100,000,” he appealed.

A $20-million relief fund was put in place to assist fishers impacted by the weather system in February. Cash vouchers were also distributed after Hurricane Beryl.