In southwestern Jamaica, thousands of lives depend on fishing. A fleet of small-boat fishers catch fish in handmade pots, supporting not only themselves, but the community of fisherfolk whose lives turn on that catch.

The specially crafted pots allow juveniles to escape, keeping the fishing industry sustainable. In October 2025, powerful winds from Hurricane Melissa tore up the artisanal pots stored carefully along the shore. But new fish pot wire is helping the fishers rebuild their tools and their livelihoods.

Good360 and Sandals Foundation provided 170 rolls of fishing wire in St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland to help restart this crucial industry upon which so many lives turn. Immediately, the community set to work.

Within hours, the new wire was in the hands of potmakers like Natty Watson, 55, who supports his wife who has a disability, and his six grandchildren. Natty, like most fisherfolk in the area, has been out of work since Melissa. But when the wire rolled in, Natty was immediately commissioned for work making new pots for the fishers. Potmaking is a detailed artisanal skill—Natty is locally known for his excellent handicraft. The new work means groceries for his grandchildren, and taxi fare to go back to school.

Damion Heath, 22, is proud to be a fisher just like his grandfather and great-grandfather. But the hurricane destroyed all his pots. Without them, he can’t make a living. But now, he’s rebuilding.

The roll will produce five more large pots, and from there, he can buy more wire, and build his food stall where he can cook and sell his catch.

“Just one of those rolls of wire can feed us for up to six months! It's a jump start, a very big jump start,” he said.

Back on land, waiting for the fisher and there catch are a host of fish scalers who make their living processing fish. Women like Sonia Jameson, who has been out of work since the storm, relying on her children to take care of her. Now that the fishers are going back to sea with new pots, Sonia has work again.

"It's helped me a lot to pay my bills,” she said.

Jelecia Brown, 35, lives in Whitehouse, one of the main fishing villages, and home to a Sandals resort. She has been working only about 25% as much as before the storm, she said. But as the work comes back, she can afford to send her 4-year-old to the nearby preschool, which Sandals Foundation has been helping rebuild. It costs money for the taxi fare and lunch, and which fisherfolk like her can’t always afford without their fish-derived income.

Grace Wilson and Marie Perrin, 55, have been selling fish for 35 years at the famous St. Elizabeth-Westmoreland Border Food Stop, a market of 30 or so stalls along a busy road where tourists and locals alike stop for local delicacies. Grace said the hurricane damaged her house and her business, but without an inflow of fish for her to sell, her rebuilding has stalled. She relies on the catch to be able to sell and make a living, and since the storm she’s had to drive far away to find fish for her stall.

Marie is a fisher as well as a seller, and she and her brother operate a boat nearby. But the storm damaged their pots, and they’ve struggled to pull fish from the sea.

As potmakers in the area build the 850 or so pots that they’ll be able to get from the 170 rolls of wire donated by Good360 and Sandals Foundations, vendors like Grace and Marie will be able to buy the fish they catch. Grace hopes to make money to rebuild her roof, and Marie, her boat. Catch by catch, the famous food stop can come back to life.

As work returns to the fishers, kids can get back to school. Culloden Infant School, a coveted free government preschool, sees children of fishers return when the catch is good. The school gives a critically important start to life, says principal Michelle Whittingham, as it’s where the little ones learn to read. If they miss this step, they can struggle and drop out of school in elementary. Working fishers means the next generation of Jamaicans building a future.

By providing the raw material to jumpstart the economy, Sandals Foundation and Good360 are helping the fishing communities of southwestern Jamaica restart their lives. Donating goods that directly fuel livelihoods goes beyond temporary—but sometimes more visible—assistance, and allows Jamaicans to start a cycle of work, income, rebuilding and even schooling that boosts the whole region and uplifts future generations.