Alien Fish 900 Pounds Caught in Jamaica

Catch of 900-pound sunfish creates stir in Jamaica

'At first I thought it was an alien, and I was somewhat frightened,' Desmond Phillips says of bizarre-looking catch, which lured dozens to the beach

Phillips (left) and boat captain Grant with the sunfish photo courtesy Jamaica Observer

The massive sunfish was so bizarre looking that Desmond Phillips, one of two Jamaican fishermen who caught the estimated 900-pound behemoth on Sunday, thought it was from another world.

“At first I thought it was an alien, and I was somewhat frightened,” Phillips told the Jamaica Gleaner. “It was difficult to bring the fish to the surface, and even more challenging to get the monster into the boat.

“When I realized what it was that we had caught, I said to my partner, Michael Grant, who is the boat captain, maybe we should release it.”

Caribbean Nations Seeking Reparations For Slavery

According to USA Today, Lawyers and academics gathered  Sept. 16, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to advance an effort by more than a dozen regional nations to seek slavery reparations from three European countries that benefited from the Atlantic slave trade.  The three-day conference was the first major step forward since the 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) announced in July that it intended to demand compensation for slavery and the genocide of native people from the governments of Britain, France and the Netherlands.

At the time of emancipation of slaves in 1834, Britain paid 20 million pounds to British planters in the Caribbean, the equivalent of some 200 billion pounds ($315 billion) today. Nothing was paid to the Africans who were  enslaved. Below are five member states of Caricom with reparations movements prior to the Sept. 16 event.