Thousands of fisherfolk from across the Caribbean are poised to benefit greatly from a unique and timely EURO117,956 (US$150,000) project which will help them develop a more sustainable and professional industry, and improve their quality of life as well as the nutrition they obtain from seafood.

The project entitled: Implementing the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy: Positioning and Engaging Fisher Folk Organizations  is to be undertaken through the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM)  which has recently been awarded a 12-month contract by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA).

A United States petition submitted this March to list the Queen Conch (Strombus gigas) as a threatened or endangered species, the status of the implementation of a common fisheries policy for CARICOM, and the joint action plan and Belize Declaration signed this September in the historic joint meeting of Central American and Caribbean fisheries Ministers will be priority items on the agenda of the upcoming 3^rd Special Meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM).

Fourteen (14) Caribbean fisheries professionals from Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Suriname, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines today concluded the first Fisheries Law and Management Training Workshop, developed jointly for them by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat and the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources & Security (ANCORS), a leading institution based at the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Milton Haughton, Belize Fisheries Administrator Beverly Wade, and Senior Fisheries Officer George Myvett leave Belize for Australia on Friday, September 7, to immediately advance one of the aims of a cross-regional declaration signed in Belize this week which, among other things, has highlighted the need for donor partners and cooperating organizations to provide technical and financial support for the implementation of a new collaborative effort between Central America and the Caribbean.

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA; MONDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2012

Over 60 high-level delegates from 19 countries spanning Central America and the Caribbean concluded a milestone meeting in Belize on Tuesday evening with a comprehensive roadmap for collective action in tackling their biggest obstacles in fisheries and aquaculture.

The event was the first joint meeting to bring together as many countries to discuss the plight of their shared marine resources and the uphill battle in fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which knows no borders.           One major outcome of the cross-regional meeting was the signing of the Belize Declaration on Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and the Central America Fisheries and Aquaculture Organization (Spanish acronym OSPESCA) Cooperation for Sustainable Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture Resources.

 Below are links to videos and photos related to the event.

In an effort to advance best practices in fisheries management and development across the wider Caribbean, fisheries officials from 6 member countries of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) will converge for a special technical meeting at the Conference Room of the Fisheries Division in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, from Wednesday, July 25, to Friday, July 27, 2012.

The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), a regional fisheries organization of seventeen (17) Member States spanning the Caribbean region, concluded its 8th Scientific Meeting on June 30th, 2012 in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Every year, the CRFM scientific meeting completes evaluations of a number of major fisheries in the region to determine if the natural fish populations remain healthy, and also if and what management controls are required for continued and improved performance of the dependent fishing industries.

Member countries of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) now have a more focused agenda for improving sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, coming out of the 6th Meeting of the CRFM’s Ministerial Council, hosted on Friday, June 15, in Nassau, The Bahamas.
 

Outgoing chairman of the Ministerial Council, Minister Hilston Baptiste of Antigua and Barbuda, urged the incoming chairman to provide strong and decisive leadership so that the CRFM would remain relevant to the needs of the region.
 

“If we are to continue to benefit from the resources of the sea, we have an imperative to do all in our power to protect our resources for the many livelihoods which depend on them,” said the new chairman of the CRFM Ministerial Council, Hon. V. Alfred Gray, recently appointed Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government in The Bahamas.
In his opening address, Minister Gray noted that fisheries contributes 2% of the Bahamas' national GDP, employs more than 12,000 Bahamians, with lobster alone generating more than US$75 million in export earnings each year.