Rio Grande rafters plead for help

BERRYDALE, Portland:

Raft captains on the Rio Grande, a key tourist attraction in Portland, are appealing for assistance in the wake of a weeks-long lay-up since the closure of water bodies to the public and the shutdown of the tourism industry as global travel ground to a halt.

Coronavirus restrictions have caused the Jamaican economy to capsize, and the rafters’ fortunes have also sunk.

Lawrence Chisholm, president of the Raft Captains Association, said that vessels that have laid idle on river banks since March have been damaged by the prolonged heat. With plunging revenues, the rafters say they are out of cash to overhaul their vessels.

The situation grows more dire by the day as the tourism industry is set to restart in Jamaica on June 15.

Although the Holness administration gave the green light to public access to rivers and beaches effective June 7, rafters and others in the water attraction sector remain grounded.

The 87 registered raft captains are concerned that they won’t be ready in time for the return of tourists. And it is unclear whether restrictions on tourists’ movements will even allow them an income soon in the eastern Jamaica parish.

“We stand ready to work in the event that tourists turn up to go rafting on the Rio Grande,” Chisholm told The Gleaner.

“We are in dire need of assistance to get back to full capacity. Our vessels are lying on river banks dried up and rotting away as COVID-19 forced the shutdown of this industry. As tourism workers, we need help to rebuild our livelihood so that we can feed our families.”

Chisholm said that raft captains who applied for a bailout as tourism workers had not received those grants despite receiving promises.

“We are an important part of the tourism sector, and yet still, raft captains have not received a penny, even though we were told that we would benefit during the period of the coronavirus as we had lost our income,” said the association president.

“I see people who have never worked collecting grants, and raft captains don’t even get a dollar.”