We are building a Fishing Industry For Haiti

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day…teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime!”…

Initial plans call for having 700 cages (100 cages per village) in Lake Azeui by the end of 2012. Currently funding is needed for 400 additional cages to serve 200 families to complete this 700 cage first stage. The total cost for each village (100 cages) is $120,000. Fish Production from each village will be approximately 300,000 pounds per year based on two production cycles per year. Gross income per village should be about $200,000.

Funding is needed to support a $250,000 fish processing plant that will handle the 2 million pounds produced from these seven villages. This processing plant will provide facilities to clean and degut the fish, remove the waste, and provide the refrigeration, icing and packaging needed to meet commercial quality standards. The facility will need some upgrading to meet international quality standards.

A total of over 450 people will be employed as a result of the 700 cage project. Anticipated wages are in the range of $1,200 per year per worker. Additionally, villages will be able to annually share over $100,000 each to be used toward improving the village and the quality of life for each family.

A complete tour of Caribbean Harvest in Haiti, produced by our partner Operation Blessing

Using funds fish sales as well as outside donors the Caribbean Harvest Foundation will attend to the social needs of the families and the villages. The want list is lengthy. Each village requires a potable water supply, medical care and medicine. Housing is needed for about 350 families at a cost of about $5,000 each. And about 1500 children need to be enrolled in school (cost about $300 each for tuition, clothes and one meal). Future income will help enormously, but donor support is needed.

By the end of 2010, hopefully 150 families will be employed and on the road to recovery. By the end of 2012 450 families will be participating in the program. A similar project has been initiated on Lake Peligre, Haiti’s second largest lake, with three villages lined up for participation.

The opportunity to share Dr. Abe’s Caribbean Harvest’s proven success with thousands of Haitians will be limited only by the funding available from our generous donors.

Future Planning

Caribbean Harvest offers a sustainable industry in fish farming that will employ Haitians for generations. The fish hatchery in Croix-des-Bouquets is an efficient and effective operation.While the hatchery is readily expandable, donor funds are needed for additional power and tankage.

Cage culture operations can be easily expanded from the two lakes currently being developed to several of the other large lakes in Haiti. If funds of $1200 per cage can be obtained, Caribbean Harvest will put five (5) to ten (10) new cages into service per day for many years ahead and create as many as 5 new jobs per day for Haiti’s unemployed.

Even at the low yearly Haitian consumption level of 4 pounds per person, approximately 26 million pounds of fish are imported annually. We believe that good quality farmed fish can easily slot into the market displacing imports while increasing protein consumption and nutrition for Haitians. Additionally, exports are a real opportunity, nearby markets in the USA and in the Dominican Republic demand a supply of tilapia at one billon pounds per year.

With sufficient funding the following opportunity is achievable: