Minister of Health, John Boyce (left) joined the congregation at the church service to mark the start of the annual Oistins Fish Festival yesterday at the St. Lawrence Anglican Church.
Barbadians and visitors alike have been invited to come out and be a part of events marking the Oistins Fish Festival 2018, to be held on the prominent holy weekend on the Christian calendar.
This invitation was thrown out by the Minister of Health, John Boyce, who delivered remarks at a church service to mark the start of the annual Oistins Fish Festival yesterday at the St. Lawrence Anglican Church.
Minister Boyce noted that this festival also coincides with the start of the fishing season in this island, adding that “like everything else, our environment has changed so significantly that the days of plenty of fish are not necessarily the same as they were, say a couple of years ago….Certainly we do not benefit from the seasonality of the plentifulness of fish.”
The Health Minister stated that while we may no longer have periods when there are plenty of fish available in the markets and Barbadians would rush to buy fish of all types and store them in their fridges, we can still get them occasionally.
“So 25 (fish) for a dollar and 80 (fish) for a dollar and those kinds of prices when we went out and dragged them out in full and then we would put them in our fridges forever, those things do not operate too often. We still get them occasionally in the market, but not to that extent. Everyone benefits of course from the ability to store fish, not least of all … those who sell our fish in the market. So they store them and keep them healthy for us and we look forward to being able to participate,” he stated, noting that fish are a good source of nutrients and therefore recommended by the Ministry for Barbadians to consume.
He also advised everyone to be on their best behavior as they come out to sample the various fish and be a part of the other events for this festival. “Let us, as we indicated during our prayers,… let us make sure that this is a safe festival. I encourage all of us – adults and young people – to behave in a manner which would be acceptable in His Name and acceptable in our name so that we would have no accidents or incidents associated with the Festival. I pray for the continued success of the Oistins Fish Festival.”
Some of the events being held later on this week the include Harold Bernard St. John Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, March 28th at the Christ Church Parish Church starting at 7 p.m., which will be delivered by Sir Richard Cheltham; the Police Tattoo on Thursday evening; the official opening ceremony, which starts at 4 p.m. on Saturday and which would have the Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley, delivering the feature address and then on Sunday evening, the Gospel Festival at the Boatyard starting at 7:30 p.m.