Before Hurricane Melissa, the fishing communities along Black River operated with a steady rhythm shaped by the tides, the river, and the morning hours before the sun got high. The work was demanding, but it provided enough to support families, maintain homes, and keep local markets supplied. In this part of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, fishing and catching marine crab were the backbone of daily life.

When Hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 28, 2025, Black River was the epicenter of the storm's impact. The hurricane flattened almost every home and building in the town, including the newly built market, and wiped out nearly the entire fishing fleet, leaving only four boats, two of them with severe engine damage. But even though Black River was among the worst-affected communities, help did not arrive quickly. The storm left more than 1.6 million people affected and up to 360,000 facing food shortages. Key industries such as fishing, farming, and small-scale trade were crippled across western Jamaica. With infrastructure overwhelmed and whole regions cut off, there was no immediate assistance, leaving fishermen and their families to face the first weeks of recovery entirely on their own.

Total Loss

For the Black River fishermen, the losses were immediate and sweeping. Boats were smashed against the riverbanks, traps were swept out to sea, and storage became impossible once electricity failed across the region. Families who depended on the river for their income suddenly had no gear, no cold storage, and in many cases, no roof left on their homes. With the community cut off and recovery slow to begin, fishermen were left to reckon with the full scale of what Melissa had taken from them.

"Before the hurricane, business was good. I had a hundred crab pots on the river. After the hurricane… I had just one left. Everything was mashed up. Basically, I'm just starting back."

Vernal, a fisherman who has worked that stretch of the river for the past 20 years, knows the challenge ahead.

"My boats have been damaged. I had to take parts from one to repair another. I cannot afford to fix it… but I have a family, so I just keep moving."

Teddy, who has fished these waters for decades and saw his own boat engine destroyed in the hurricane, said the impact reached far beyond equipment: "Most fishermen are damaged… they can't find the money to fix their boats. Spiritually they feel down. When they don't have money, it affects them spiritually, physically - everything."

Each morning before Melissa, the fishermen would set crab pots along the river, each baited with pieces of chicken to draw the catch inside. The men would leave around four in the morning to avoid the heat and begin pulling the pots one by one. Most days produced only a few pounds at a time, but the steady accumulation over the week allowed them to store enough to make the trip to Montego Bay, where two to three hundred pounds of crab could be sold to buyers, restaurants, and vendors.

The work required long hours, physical effort, and reliable equipment: boats with working engines, sturdy pots, storage space, and, above all, electricity to keep the crab cold until transport. The work supported multiple families, provided income across the community, and kept Black River's small fishing economy functioning.

The Storm at Home; Family Life Destroyed

For Vernal, the damage did not end at the river, it also left him without a roof. "It affected my home a lot. I have 52 sheets on my roof and I lost them." With his livelihood already crippled, and his teenage daughter now at home most days, the losses to his home added even more strain.

His family has been trying to adjust to a new and difficult reality. "Monetary, it is not like before. And there is no electricity. Children only go to school two or three times a week now, and there is no electricity to iron their uniforms, so they are just going in jeans. My daughter, she goes to school Monday, Wednesday, Friday… and the rest she stays home."

Trying to Rebuild with Almost Nothing

Across Black River, fishermen are trying to restart their lives with almost no resources left. The storm damaged boats, swept away gear, and left families without the savings or equipment needed to return to work.

Vernal has managed to begin again, slowly. "I have about 20 pots back already. It affected my business very much because we dropped behind time. As a man with a family… financially it set us back." Even replacing the simplest materials is expensive. "This wire I got now… I got a roll from the government. Normally it costs 20,000 Jamaican dollars, and the man to cut and build the pots takes 15,000… this is his earnings." For him, each new pot is progress, but every step forward comes with a cost he can barely meet. "The financial part is hard… this man needs to get paid, and right now I need to find someone who can pay him."

Others face even greater barriers. Darion returned to Black River with nothing left to rebuild from. "When I came back after the hurricane… there was nothing left. I felt lost. I had no clothes… just what I wore." His home on the beach had been wiped away. "That was my home. Everything gone." Although he received a roll of wire, it was only a fraction of what he needed to work again. "They gave us wire, but I don't have money for rope or a boat to use it. To set a pot to sea costs 50,000… I don't have it."

His gear is nearly gone as well. "All my hand lines are gone… before the hurricane I had 150,000 hours of line, now just five." His conclusion is blunt: "We need help to rebuild. We cannot rebuild by ourselves."

Teddy's situation mirrors the same struggle. He lost his engine, traps, and parts of his home, and he is working under tarpaulin while trying to save for repairs. Like the others, he is caught between immediate survival and the long, slow process of recovery.

Together, their stories show a community trying to rebuild the tools and routines that once sustained it. With boats damaged, materials costly, electricity still unreliable, and income gone, the path back to the river is steep. None of them can climb it alone.

The Salvation Army's Role in Recovery

While the fishermen work to rebuild their livelihoods, The Salvation Army has provided steady support across the hardest-hit communities. Response teams have delivered food parcels, water, hygiene supplies, and other essential items to families in western Jamaica, including St. Elizabeth and Black River. International and Jamaican teams have coordinated relief operations, supported distributions, and worked with partners to move equipment and materials into damaged areas. Emotional and spiritual care workers have also been deployed to help residents manage the stress and disruption of recovery. These efforts have formed the first steps in helping fishing families regain stability.

Importantly, none of the fishermen in this story were left without food, water, or hygiene supplies, even as longer-term support is planned to help them rebuild their lives.