The Rocky Point fishing village, one of the major destinations for freshly cooked seafood in Jamaica, is now an environmental disaster.

The beachfront has become a small town with a number of informal settlers. The ad-hoc development has meant that many of the amenities of modern life are absent.

Activities on the beach have provided a prime opportunity for fishermen to eke out a living and over time - beach lands there have become occupied with zinc shacks, huts and boats.

As recently as August last year during Hurricane Dean, the ramshackle structures were destroyed, but were promptly rebuilt.

No garbage disposal

With a growing population and high visitor turnout, the coastline, with no garbage disposal or collection system, has now become a place of squalor because users of the beach get rid of their waste on the sand by either dumping or burning.

A thorough look at the beach provides scenes littered with dead aquatic fauna and flora, plastic bottles, tyres, boards, nails and dead animals.

One end of the beachfront is waterlogged, a tiny lake transformed into a natural habitat for pigs. Inevitably, mosquitoes have also taken a liking to the area and are breeding uncontrolled.

The community now fears malaria and dengue epidemics.

Minister of Health and Member of Parliament for South East Clarendon, Ruddy Spencer, in a recent visit to the community, threatened to destroy all illegal structures, "I am going to remove all those building that are there. We cannot operate that way; it's a disaster. The sanitation is poor, it is bad," the health minister told The Gleaner.

Clean-up question

Spencer is uncertain about when the clean-up process will begin because he will have to seek funding for the demolition and relocation of the vendors who operate from the beach. Spencer has identified the old Rocky Point market as the possible place for relocation but that structure is also in need of major repairs.

Those who use the beachfront to make a living are concerned about the environmental hazards. They are hoping that the minister's visit will be the first step in improving their situation.