A group of thirteen (13) resource managers and fishers are meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to engage in a Training of Trainers workshop, focused on underwater visual census techniques for the queen conch or lambi (Strombus gigas).

The queen conch is an iconic part of Caribbean culture as well as a valuable fisheries resource; yet, many countries do not have the knowledge to conduct surveys to ensure the sustainability of their populations.

This is especially true in those countries where the fishery is still small-scale, with the possible exceptions of Jamaica, Belize and to certain extent The Bahamas and Dominican Republic, where the conch fishery is a well established commercial business. Accordingly, many fishery managers in the CARIFORUM region are forced to make management decisions based on minimal amounts of information.

The training—which began on August 6 and concludes tomorrow, August 24, 2013—addresses the critical lack of training capacity for those fisheries managers.

CRFM’s Deputy Executive Director, Susan Singh-Renton, remarked that, “This training opportunity has addressed a key step in CRFM’s ongoing efforts to improve management of the region’s queen conch fisheries through development of a much needed, stronger, scientific approach.”

She went on to explain that, “The CRFM is paying special attention to the queen conch fishery resource because of its contribution to foreign exchange earnings for the countries concerned, and related to this, international interest in Caribbean queen conch management and conservation practices.”

Trainees represent the following CARIFORUM member states: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The training is divided into two phases: In the first phase, key experts conducted classroom training activities in Kingstown, St. Vincent, by presenting information to the group on the biology and management of conch, as well as survey techniques related to data collection, data analyses. The second phase of the program consists of 9 days of field activities in the Grenadines, in an area of approximately 248km2 around the Tobago Keys, Mayreau and Union Island. This location represents one of the most important conch fishing areas in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The field activities consist of estimating conch abundance using underwater visual census techniques using scuba divers, and by using towed underwater cameras. The trainees participated in all phases of these activities.

After the conclusion of the field surveys, the group reconvened in St. Vincent to analyze the data, make management recommendations based on the surveys, and create conch assessment plans for their own countries.

The entire process is focused on building the capacity for each nation to develop their own sampling programs and subsequently set quota recommendations for conch harvests.

This project was made possible with the support of the European Development Fund on behalf of ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of states) countries that created the ACP Fish II programme, which aims to improve sustainable fisheries management under their jurisdiction.

ACP Fish II provides benefits to The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism with this project entitled “Training in underwater visual survey methods for evaluating the status of Strombus gigas, queen conch stocks”. The project was implemented by the consulting firm Société Française de Réalisation d’Études et de Conseil (SOFRECO), in coordination with the CRFM.

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The ACP Fish II Programme is a four and a half year, EUR€30.0M programme funded by the European Union through the EDF. It has been formulated to strengthen fisheries management, improve food security and alleviate poverty in 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states.

“The cornerstone of the Programme is devising sound policies and plans to ensure sustainable use of fisheries and the development of value-added activities. Therefore, in addition to improving plans and policies at the regional and national levels, ACP Fish II Programme will also see results such as reinforcing the Region’s control and enforcement capabilities; reinforcing research strategies and initiatives as well as developing business supportive regulatory framework and increasing knowledge sharing at all levels in the sector,” advised Dr Sandra Grant, Regional Programme Manager for the Caribbean of the ACP Fish 11 Programme.

The European Union is made up of 27 Member States which have decided to gradually link together their know-how, resources and destinies. Together, during a period of enlargement of 50 years, they have built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms. The EU is committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond its borders. The European Commission is the EU’s executive body.

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Full coverage is welcomed.

For further information please contact:

ACP Fish II Programme Regional Manager for the Caribbean Region, Sandra Grant;
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;Telephone: 011(501) 223 2974; Fax: 011(501) 223 2975

CRFM : Susan Singh-Renton, DPhil., Deputy Executive Director, CRFM Secretariat,Kingstown,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Tel: +1 784 457 FISH; Fax: +1 784 457 3475; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Event Coordinator in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines : Sherrill Barnwell ; Telephone: 1(876) 927 1731

For further information on the ACP Fish II Programme, please visit: http://www.acpfish2-eu.org

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE -- Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Fisheries stakeholders in Member States of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) will have the opportunity for stronger dialogue, under a newly initiated, regional project which aims to tangibly fortify their capacity to contribute to the development of policy directed at improving fisheries earnings and raising the standards of living of fisher folk.

The CRFM had approached the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Co-operation ACP-EU (CTA) a few months ago, for support to implement the new CRFM Communication Strategy, which seeks to increase the use of information and communication technology to, among other things, boost efficiency and productivity in the fisheries sector.

In line with that request, the CTA has awarded a Euro 84,817 (USD112,480) contract to the CRFM. The one-year agreement provides for policy dialogue on fisheries issues in the Caribbean through the use of online knowledge platform.

CRFM Executive Director Milton Haughton signed for the Caribbean organisation, while CTA Director Michael Hailu signed on behalf of the donor.

In inking the agreement, CRFM and the CTA acknowledged that there is the need for further discussion beyond face-to-face meetings on Blue economic issues – exploring ways to bring abundance to the region out of existing resources.

However, they noted, launching an electronic policy dialogue of this nature is a challenge, and therefore, stakeholders will be encouraged to make use of online media, including e-mail, to animate the policy dialogue.

The project will, more specifically, give attention to the need for enhancing the limited communication and advocacy skills of fisher folk and other stakeholders.

A two-day meeting will engage stakeholders in the use of Dgroups, the starting point for groups and communities in international development. Electronic discourse through the use of Web 2.0 tools and social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, will also be promoted as a means of further advancing stakeholder dialogue across virtual space.

The electronic discourse will feed into key stakeholder documents to be presented to Caribbean policy makers.

The CRFM-CTA agreement specifies that this new project forms part of a broader sub-project to support the continued policy dialogue on issues raised in the Brussels Briefing on Small island economies held in April 2012.

Fourteen Caribbean countries will directly benefit from the project, since all CRFM members—except for Anguilla, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands—are also ACP participating states.

Fisheries policy makers, Caribbean fisher folk, fisher folk organisations in the region, Fisheries Departments and Divisions are among those who the project aims to target.

The CRFM-CTA initiative is expected to bolster the institutional capacities of the CRFM and other beneficiaries at the regional, national and community levels.

The CTA is also supporting a regional project to develop the Caribbean Network of Fisher Folk Organisations.

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BELIZE CITY, BELIZE; WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013 –

National and regional fish experts from across the Caribbean are meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines this week for the 9th Annual Scientific Meeting, organized and sponsored by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM).

The group—which is meeting in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines this week, until Friday, June 14—is currently engaged in working group meetings to conduct scientific data analyses for providing advice to the region’s fishery managers, to review fisheries management progress and ongoing challenges, and to identify priorities for advancing statistical and other scientific approaches required to support new and emerging management needs of major fisheries within the CRFM membership and the Wider Caribbean.

During this 9th Annual Scientific Meeting, national fisheries reports from CRFM member states—which provide details on production data and the fishing fleet—are also being presented.

As in previous years, the scientific meeting information enables fisheries managers to understand more about the status of key commercially important fisheries across the region, and required management actions to ensure sustainability and continued profitability of the industry.

Regional conservation and management plans for the billfish and the blackfin tuna, respectively, as well as the proposed regional lionfish control strategy are among the items which are being discussed by the fisheries experts.

Central to the new approaches being integrated in fisheries management strategies across the region are the precautionary and ecosystem-based approaches to management, which is also giving consideration to the realities imposed by global environmental change, and particularly climate change. The shift in strategic planning also necessitates a renewed focus on disaster risk management, especially in light of the known vulnerability of fishers and fishing communities in many Caribbean states to the damaging impacts of hurricanes.

The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), in collaboration with the ACP Fish II Programme, continues its efforts to boost fisheries management in the Caribbean. In an attempt to increase project monitoring and evaluation at the regional level, St. Vincent and Grenadines hosted a CRFM / ACP Fish II Regional Validation Workshop: Review of queen conch management options. Participants from fisheries administrations of 15 CARIFORUM countries and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) attended.

The 3-day regional validation workshop was held from June 6 – 8 at the Methodist Hall, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The objectives of the workshop were to (i) review, discuss and endorse documents related to the status of queen conch management in the region and the synthesis report on standardized scientific approaches for assessment of queen conch; and (ii) review and finalize the Regional Management Options Paper for queen conch.

The Regional Management Option Paper was developed from the results of the field missions to The Bahamas, Belize, Dominican Republic and Grenada, and regional analyses, covering other countries with important conch fisheries and distinctive management systems.

The workshop forms part of a larger global Programme to strengthen fisheries management, improve food security and alleviate poverty in 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) member states. “The ACP Fish II Programme is a four-and-a-half year, EUR 30.0 million programme funded by the European Union. It has been formulated to design and develop planning and management capacities in ACP countries,” indicated Sandra Grant, ACP Fish II Programme Regional Manager for the Caribbean.

The offices of the Caribbean node of the ACP Fish II Programme are located in the office premises of the CRFM Secretariat’s headquarters in Belize. This was strategically located there to facilitate closer linkages and easier access and collaboration with CRFM Member States, through the CRFM Secretariat. Over EUR 3.3 million has been allocated to implement 34 national and regional fisheries and aquaculture projects in the Caribbean Region. Through close collaboration with the CRFM Secretariat, to date, 16 of these projects have been completed, including aquaculture development strategies for three countries and fisheries and aquaculture policies and action plans for four countries. At the regional level a study to assess the status of monitoring, control, and surveillance and IUU (illegal, unreported, unregulated) fishing in CARIFORUM countries was undertaken. The Programme also seeks to build the capacity of national and regional fisher folk organizations by providing training in the ecosystem approach to fisheries management, climate change, and business management.

Policymakers aim to boost standard of living of fisherfolk, particularly in small-scale fisheries

/ Belize City, Wednesday, May 29, 2013

/ The Seventh Meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) opens at 9:00 a.m. this Friday, May 31, 2013, at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa in Rockley, Christ Church, Barbados.
 
Participation will be drawn from The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are all Member States of the CRFM.
 
At the upcoming Ministerial Council meeting, Fisheries Ministers from CRFM Member States and their advisors will receive an update on the progress of work activities being undertaken by the CRFM Secretariat, Member States and network partners, and provide them with policy guidance on programmes and plans for the development and management of fisheries and aquaculture. They will also approve a number of regional policy and strategic documents aimed at strengthening governance arrangements, conservation and sustainable development of the fisheries and aquaculture sector in the region.

According to the CRFM Executive Director, Milton Haughton, “This is a very important meeting in terms of forging a new strategic direction for the fisheries sector. The Council will consider a number of coordinated initiatives aimed at progressively improving: (i) the standard of living of our fisherfolk, particularly those in the small-scale fisheries sector; (ii) the region’s food security, by providing consumers in the region with adequate supplies of safe and affordably priced fish and seafood; and (iii) the frameworks to protect and conserve the fish stocks and associated ecosystems from overexploitation and degradation due to pollution and other human activities.”

The Council is expected to endorse the new CRFM Strategic Plan (2013–2021); the Regional Strategy, Action Plan and Proposal for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Fisheries; the Regional Manual and Strategy to Control the Lionfish Invasion; the CRFM Communication and Information Technology Strategy; and the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem Strategic Action Programme. It will also be asked to support the efforts of the Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Organizations (CNFO), as they strive for greater participation in the decision-making process.
 
Updates will also be provided on the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy; the implementation of the Castries (St. Lucia) Declaration on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing; progress in aquaculture; and the latest developments in CITES and in the USA as they relate to Queen Conch conservation and the petition for listing as an endangered species.
 
The CRFM Ministerial Council is the arm of the CRFM which charts the policies of the regional fisheries organization. The Council is also responsible for providing leadership to the CRFM in the areas of research; fisheries management and conservation; approval of strategic plans and policy positions; work plans and budgets; fisheries cooperative agreements; and donor projects.