With Good Friday less than 24 hours away, Belizeans are stocking up on their fish, bun and other traditional delicacies. Well today our fish finders went out to the markets to see what the frenzy looked like this year. Jaleeza Roberts has this story.
With tomorrow being Good Friday, Belizeans are rushing to their favorite fish vendors to get their "Friday fix" which traditionally includes fried fish. Even with the prices escalating between 10-12 dollars a pound, persons have been able to find ways to make it work. We spoke with a few of the vendors and this is what they told us:
Ronald Reyes, Vendor
"Price is up there but the fish are getting smaller. Well the fishermen have to put on their cost because gas went up, everything went up and the price has to go up too. No, I think they will have to stop putting so much exemption on what you can do as a fisherman because being a fisherman isn't easy and if everything that you need, your tools to do you everyday daily living is expensive, how can you afford to do it if you can't make back the money that you spend. Well, like the area where you can go fish, they have a lot of protected areas that you can't fish but they don't have areas where you can fish all the time because for certain fishing instances where the fish have to develop a certain size before you can bring them and so that same fish that would cost us less will need to cost you more because we need to go further to catch those same size fish that we could have caught right here. So if I have to go further and it costs me more, who has to pay that price?"
Mr. Welch, Vendor
"We got snapper, barrow, king fish, jack and grouper. Our price is 12, 13, 14 and 15 but after the easter everything will go low, well you know this is fisherman Christmas, everyone gets their fish for the pot to bake, fry, different things, so I have my boat right up the stretch and everybody survives in life, my brother deals with the tanker and thing and we go fishing and he helps me out a lot. Fish stand good right now because they're biting good, they're biting good right now and one overnight sometimes 2-3 days depends how the weather stands you know but one overnight we do and we're good. Well Barrow, Barrow people are buying with snapper too."
Ernest Olivera, Vendor
"Out here you can see that the guys they bring in so much fish and all has gone nuh so it's fairly well for them. Right here, demonstrating for you all, this is what you get when you deal with Mr. Olivera. Well that's another thing because depends on your budget and your pocket right if you want something you will pay for it right? I don't think so, that's not a good idea cause it's healthy and you can get more from your body's point of view."
Today is also dubbed as "Fisherman's Christmas" since it's a way for fishermen to make extra dollars selling to households or providing for restaurants on a commercial scale. All we know is that even with the increase in multiple commodities, the Good Friday loyalists found their fish.
