标签： Barbados

The Caribbean fishing community is reeling from sudden, devastating loss after the unexpected death of Dr. Shelly-Ann Cox, the groundbreaking Chief Fisheries Officer of Barbados who made history as both the youngest person and first woman to lead the nation’s fisheries sector. Industry representatives across local and regional levels have spoken out this week to express their shock and grief at her passing. The 46-year-old trailblazer collapsed on stage Saturday afternoon, just moments before she was set to present awards at a public event hosted at the Weston Fish Market. Emergency first aid was administered immediately by former military personnel who were in attendance at the gathering, who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) right away, but Cox could not be revived and was pronounced dead shortly after. Long before she rose to lead the nation’s fisheries work, Cox was deeply rooted in the fishing community: as the daughter of a Barbadian fisherman, Moonesh Dharampaul, president of the 6,000-member Black Fin Fleet Co-op Society, described her as a true “daughter of the sea.” In an interview reflecting on her legacy, Dharampaul shared that the entire industry remains in a state of stunned disbelief just days after her death. “It was more than a job to her… she showed that passion every single day,” he said, adding that Cox fundamentally transformed the relationship between the fisheries sector and the Barbadian general public. On the morning of the day she died, Cox had personally led a community outreach event, guiding a tour of the Fisheries Division for a local group of Brownie Troop members from St. Stephen’s, before joining the Weston Fish Market event. Though Cox’s tenure leading the division was cut far too short, her time in office was defined by bold leadership through unprecedented challenge. She steered the Barbadian fishing industry through widespread devastation left by Hurricane Beryl, and she personally built critical partnerships with major global development bodies including the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Her work extended far beyond Barbados’ borders, leaving a lasting imprint on fisheries policy across the Caribbean and even as far south as Argentina. In response to her passing, the fishing industry has moved to restructure all planned events for the upcoming national Fisherman’s Month, turning the calendar of celebrations into a series of tributes honoring her life and work. Industry leaders are currently organizing a large public funeral and a candlelit vigil to be held at sea, where hundreds of fisherfolk are expected to gather to pay their respects. “We want to dedicate all the other events that have to happen for the Fisherman’s Month as a memorial to Dr. Cox and how she lived,” Dharampaul said, closing his tribute with a traditional fishing blessing: “We wish her calm seas and tight lines on her final journey.” The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat also released an official statement Sunday mourning Cox’s passing, noting that her technical expertise, steady leadership, and unwavering commitment to the sector earned her widespread respect and admiration from colleagues across the Caribbean and beyond. CRFM Executive Director Dr. Marc Williams emphasized that Cox’s contributions stretched far beyond Barbados’ coastline. “Through her active engagement in regional initiatives and collaboration with the CRFM and other partner organisations, she helped to shape policies and programmes that have strengthened fisheries governance, enhanced food and nutrition security, and supported the livelihoods of thousands of fisherfolk and fish workers across the Caribbean,” Williams said. He added that Cox’s voice was consistently a valued contributor to regional policy discussions, and her dedication to the sustainable development of the fisheries sector will leave a durable legacy that will benefit generations of fishing communities to come.

This week, Barbados’ only electricity provider, Barbados Light and Power Company (BL&P), is pausing to look back on 115 years of powering the island nation’s growth and development. To launch its week of milestone commemorations, BL&P employees gathered alongside congregants at Dalkeith Methodist Church on Sunday for a heartfelt thanksgiving service. The choice of location was far from arbitrary: Dalkeith Methodist holds a unique place in Barbados’ energy history as the first church on the island to be connected to electrical power.

Speaking at the service under the anniversary theme ‘Blueprints of Excellence’, BL&P Human Resources Business Partner Sonia Haynes-Collymore explained that the theme was chosen to highlight shared values between the utility company and the historic church. Both institutions, she noted, are rooted in priorities including nurturing strong community bonds, prioritizing the welfare of individuals, centering collective well-being, and maintaining an unwavering commitment to outstanding service.

Antoine Williams, a representative of Dalkeith Methodist Church, opened the service by welcoming the BL&P delegation and extending recognition for the company’s decades-long impact across Barbados. Williams emphasized that BL&P has long stood as a trusted social partner, contributing to progress in local communities and across the entire island for generations.

The opening church service is just the first of a full slate of anniversary events planned for the week. Upcoming activities include an Employee Appreciation Day to honor the teams that have kept the company running over the decades, a ceremonial time capsule burial to preserve memories for future generations of BL&P staff, a company-wide football tournament to foster team camaraderie, and a formal awards gala. The awards ceremony will recognize long-serving employees and individuals who have made exceptional contributions to BL&P’s 115-year legacy of reliable service to Barbados.

Barbados is mourning the unexpected passing of one of its most respected public sector leaders, Dr. Shelly-Ann Cox, the nation’s Chief Fisheries Officer, who died on Saturday at the age of 37. Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw, who also holds the cabinet portfolios for Environment, National Beautification and Fisheries, has released an official statement honoring Cox’s extraordinary legacy of service to the country’s fisheries sector.

In her tribute, Bradshaw remembered Cox as an uniquely committed public servant whose steady leadership anchored the division through some of its most turbulent periods. One defining example of Cox’s leadership, Bradshaw recalled, came during the national response to Hurricane Beryl in 2024, when the fisheries sector faced widespread disruption and uncertainty.

“I watched her move through a difficult and uncertain moment with a steadiness that drew the respect of everyone around her,” Bradshaw said. “I can still see her standing among the fishermen, a small figure in the middle of a great deal of noise, and yet it was her voice that settled the room and gave the guidance that was needed. From that day I understood the confidence which the fisheries sector placed in her, and in the months that followed I came to understand why.”

Bradshaw emphasized that Cox’s impact rippled across every corner of Barbados’ fishing industry, spanning high-level policy development, grassroots stakeholder engagement, and inclusive workforce building. Her deep, comprehensive knowledge of the sector shaped the long-term vision and strategic planning for the modernization of Barbados’ fisheries, earning her widespread respect from every corner of the industry: from small-scale artisanal fisherfolk working on the beaches and seafood vendors to industry association leaders and her own office colleagues.

Bradshaw noted that Cox possessed a rare, empathetic approach to leadership that allowed her to balance competing needs across the sector, while always centering the concerns of the people who depended on fishing for their livelihoods. Beyond core industry operations, Cox prioritized two critical goals: building a long-term environmentally sustainable fisheries sector and opening new opportunities for young Barbadians to join and grow in the industry.

Her relentless work ethic also set her apart, Bradshaw added. Cox was always available to colleagues and stakeholders regardless of the hour, often responding to calls and drafting emails long after standard work hours had ended. Even in death, Bradshaw noted, Cox’s contributions will leave a lasting mark: the foundational work she put in place over her career will continue to guide the future growth and development of Barbados’ fisheries sector for years to come.

In closing her statement, Bradshaw extended sincere condolences to Cox’s family, friends, colleagues, and the many fisherfolk and industry partners whose lives she touched, as the nation grieves the loss of a dedicated, transformative public servant.

The small Caribbean nation of Barbados is reeling from unexpected tragedy this week after the sudden death of one of its most promising young public sector leaders, Chief Fisheries Officer Dr Shelly-Ann Cox. The 36-year-old trailblazer collapsed mid-speech while presenting an award at a public fishing industry gathering held in Weston, a coastal community in the parish of St James. Witnesses and first responders immediately initiated life-saving efforts at the scene in a desperate attempt to revive her, before rushing her to a nearby hospital. Sadly, medical professionals were unable to save her, and she was officially pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Dr Cox made history when she stepped into the role of Chief Fisheries Officer in January 2023. Aged only 35 at the time of her appointment, she made two landmark marks on the region’s fisheries sector: she was the youngest person ever to hold the top post, and only the second woman to serve as a chief fisheries officer across the entire Caribbean. Over the 12 months she led the division, Dr Cox earned widespread respect across the industry for her rare combination of hands-on practical knowledge and innovative academic insight. She brought a full 10 years of frontline experience in fisheries management to the role, alongside specialized expertise in interdisciplinary climate research that she applied to address pressing challenges facing Barbados’ coastal fishing communities.

Beyond her policy and leadership work, Dr Cox was deeply committed to public education and community outreach. On the very same day of her death, she had already spent hours interacting with young girls from the St Stephen’s Brownie Troop, welcoming the group for a guided tour of the Fisheries Division’s facilities and engaging them in learning about the island’s marine resources. Colleagues and community members have highlighted this full day of service as a reflection of her lifelong dedication to lifting up others and nurturing public understanding of the ocean. Dr Cox is survived by her seven-year-old son, Shae, who is now at the center of an outpouring of support from across the country.

With more than five decades of professional experience spanning major infrastructure projects across three Caribbean nations, a decorated veteran civil engineer has delivered a stark warning about the critical state of Barbados’ stormwater drainage networks, linking decades of faulty policy to accelerating road decay and growing flood vulnerability across the island.

Andrew Hutchinson, whose career covers civil, structural and environmental engineering with deep expertise in stormwater management, watershed modeling and rainwater harvesting, shared his decades of on-the-ground insights during a recent Friday webinar focused on how poor drainage systems undermine urban infrastructure. His assessment pulls back the curtain on longstanding systemic flaws that have left Barbados ill-prepared to handle intense seasonal rainfall.

Hutchinson argues that substandard drainage is not a minor infrastructure issue—it is the single leading driver of road deterioration across the entire island. Rating the country’s current road drainage infrastructure just 2.5 to 3 out of 10, he emphasized that policymakers and planners have repeatedly failed to recognize drainage’s outsized role in preserving road integrity.

The roots of the current crisis stretch back to road expansion projects carried out in the 1980s, Hutchinson explained. Instead of acquiring additional land to build out full, functional drainage networks, project leaders opted to remove existing drains and replace them with narrow kerbs and slipper drains. This cost-cutting shortcut effectively turned the roads themselves into makeshift drainage channels. When heavy rains hit, water cannot run off the road surface into designated storage ditches, leaving water pooled on pavement until it overtops kerbs and floods adjacent private and public land.

This short-sighted policy has created generational damage to Barbados’ road network, the engineer added. Compounding the problem, the Barbados Water Authority regularly excavates trenches to install utility connections, and often fails to properly restore the road surface after work is complete, creating additional weak points that break down faster when exposed to standing rainwater.

Hutchinson pointed to the ABC Highway as a proven model of what proper drainage design can achieve. Unlike nearly all other major roads on the island, the ABC Highway includes purpose-built stormwater ditches that capture runoff, store it temporarily, and allow it to gradually drain into underground wells, fitted with grates to block debris from clogging the system. Even after heavy downpours, the system works as intended, keeping road surfaces clear and preventing downstream flooding.

Beyond large-scale infrastructure design, Hutchinson stressed that every stormwater project requires rigorous hydrological analysis tailored to the size of the local watershed, and encouraged widespread adoption of specialized modeling software like HydroCAD to guide design decisions. For any watershed larger than 10 hectares, engineers must use modeling to calculate precipitation rates for 24-hour storm events and decide whether to design for 10-year or 25-year storm events to ensure long-term resilience. A core, often overlooked, factor in this modeling is the time of concentration— the period it takes a drop of water to travel from the farthest point of a watershed to the infrastructure point of interest, such as a culvert. Getting this calculation wrong leads to undersized, ineffective drainage systems that fail during heavy rain, he explained.

To address the current crisis, Hutchinson has put forward a range of actionable solutions, starting with expanded adoption of low-impact development drainage systems that boost water infiltration and slow runoff. Options like GeoWeb permeable surfaces and grassed parking lots, he noted, create durable, usable surfaces that can even handle heavy truck traffic while allowing rainwater to soak into the ground rather than running off. For areas with limited open space, Hutchinson recommended the installation of small check dams in natural gullies and underground stormwater chambers in dense urban areas, which provide critical extra storage and infiltration without requiring above-ground ditches or ponds that take up valuable space. He highlighted existing successful examples of this approach on the island: underground storm chambers are already in use near Kensington Oval and along Highway 5, where there was no room for above-ground storage infrastructure.

During the webinar’s question-and-answer session, Hutchinson doubled down on his call for widespread deployment of natural and built water storage solutions across Barbados, including expanded check dams, retention ponds, detention areas and rainwater harvesting systems. These interventions, he argued, could dramatically reduce the severe flooding that regularly hits urban centers including Holetown, Speightstown and Bridgetown, while also recharging the island’s depleted aquifers and boosting long-term water security for all Barbadians. When asked if the island needs to prioritize expanded water storage, he answered simply: “I would say yes to all of the above.”

As Barbados prepares for the annual Crop Over festival and braces for a predicted extreme heatwave, the nation’s police force has thrown its full support behind a groundbreaking proposal to swap traditional heavy uniforms for lighter, more climate-appropriate alternatives during the event. In an exclusive confirmation with Barbados TODAY, Police Association of Barbados President Inspector Wendly Carter outlined the details of the initiative, which has been under active review by government and law enforcement leadership for months.