Anguilla 
Antigua and Barbuda 
Grenada 
Bahamas 
Barbados 
Belize 
Dominica 
Guyana 
Haiti 
Jamaica 
Montserrat 
St. Kitts and Nevis 
St. Lucia 
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 
Suriname 
Trinidad and Tobago 
Turks and Caicos 
Min. Estwick urges implementation of Castries Declaration on IUU fishing and CARICOM Common Fisheries Policy
BELIZE CITY, BELIZE; Tuesday, June 18, 2013 -
The recently appointed chairman of the Ministerial Council of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), Barbados Minister of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management, Dr. David Estwick, has urged fellow Caribbean ministers to place special emphasis on the implementation of policies and recommendations coming out of the 7th Ministerial Council of the CRFM, held at the end of May in Barbados.
“An area where focus is definitely needed is the implementation of policies and recommendations in a much more timely manner. We have seen tardiness to this end in the implementation of policy decisions from the Ministerial Council. One such policy that readily comes to mind is the Castries Declaration in Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated [IUU] fishing and the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy,” said Estwick.
He went on to emphasize that effort must be placed on implementation if sustainable development, and the conservation and management of fisheries resources are to be achieved.
“Implementation will definitely encourage change—even though change may be unsettling to some,” Minister Estwick, the chair of the CRFM Ministerial Council, said.
On Friday, May 31, Estwick assumed the chairmanship of the CRFM Ministerial Council from V. Alfred Gray, Bahamas Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government, who noted that, “The Ministerial Council has a critical role to play in shaping the direction of this organization as a whole, not just in terms of decision-making… but to ensure that our various countries’ directorates are fully aware of the importance of this organization and that we do, as ministers, all that we can to be steadfast advocates, as we seek to strengthen the organization and the processes which would lead to successes of our various countries’ efforts.”
The Ministerial Council charts the policies of the CRFM. It is also responsible for providing leadership to the organization in the areas of research; fisheries management and conservation; approval of strategic plans, and policy positions, work plans and budgets, as well as fisheries cooperative agreements, and donor projects.
The recently concluded meeting approved an unprecedented number of regional policy documents aimed at improving conservation, protection and sustainable use of the region’s fisheries.
The Ministers endorsed the CRFM’s Second Strategic Plan (2013-2021), which was prepared after extensive consultations with stakeholders and member states. The new plan follows a comprehensive review of the CRFM by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) experts, and it is the first such review undertaken since the CRFM’s inception in 2002.
The Ministers have also endorsed a regional strategy and action plan to address climate change and disaster risk management in fisheries and aquaculture.
CRFM’s Executive Director, Milton Haughton, noted that, “The negative effects of climate change and climate variability on marine ecosystems and fisherfolk in coastal communities are already evident, and according to the experts, the situation will probably only get worse in the coming years.”
The experts say that the past decade has been the warmest on record and the cost of damage caused by extreme weather events is rising, Haughton said, cautioning that the region will become more vulnerable in the future.
“Our fishers, our fish farmers and our fishing communities, particularly those in the coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to disasters arising from numerous natural and manmade threats, including the recurrent tropical storms and hurricanes during the hurricane season,” he added.
Haughton said that the CRFM was able to secure technical assistance from the FAO for the development of a regional strategy and action plan, and a project proposal for disaster risk adaptation, which the Ministerial Council also endorsed.
“This,” said Haughton, “will pave the way for climate-proofing and protecting the vulnerable fishing communicates and their livelihoods, and to build ecosystem resilience into our fish and aquaculture management policies at the national and local levels.”
The Ministers also endorsed the CRFM’s new Information and Communications Strategy, which was formulated through funding and technical assistance by the ACP Fish II initiative. Haughton said that not only has the CRFM been able to launch its new website (www.crfm.net), but it has also been able to effect a strategic shift in the use of modern ICT tools to facilitate greater collaboration via the Internet and the greater sharing of data and information, which means major cost savings for CRFM and its partners across the region.
In addition to endorsing these initiatives, the Ministerial Council also put its stamp of approval on the Regional Lionfish Strategy.
“We’ve begun the discussion to ensure that the lionfish, which is said to be an invasive species, becomes a part of our delicacy – our cuisine – and so I am told that those who have eaten it already find it very pleasant on the palate. And I think we’ve got to change the paradigm to ensure that instead of us trying to kill them out, we eat them out. And if we can do that as a region, perhaps it might not be such a bad thing after all.”
Another major development which took place at the recent ministerial meeting is the endorsement of the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem (CLME) Project Strategic Action Program, a 4-year project funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).
Video clip available at: http://youtu.be/G2tD1iL0hz4
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Video from Seventh Ministerial Council Meeting
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Caribbean fisheries experts attend 9th CRFM Scientific Meeting
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.
CRFM/ACP FISH II Programme holds Regional Fisheries Management Workshop
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.
New strategic direction on Agenda of Caribbean Fisheries Ministers
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.
Video of Dr. Warwick Gullet's lecture in Jamaica (Updated)
Gullet in Jamaica 2013 Pt I from belizeuser on Vimeo.
Gullet in Jamaica 2013 Pt II from belizeuser on Vimeo.
Public lectures in Barbados, Jamaica and Belize
SCHEDULE FOR PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
(Note changes for Belize. See flyers below)
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BARBADOS: Thursday, 25 April 2013, 6.00-8.00 pm
Venue: Accra Beach Hotel
Fisheries and the environment: Fisheries management legislation and principles of international law.
JAMAICA: Monday April 29, 6:00 p.m.-8.00 pm
Venue: The Aubrey Fraser Lecture Theatre, Norman Manley Law School, 8 Ring Road, Mona Campus, UWI
The Transposition of Principles of International Law into Domestic Legislation to Combat Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) Fishing
BELIZE: Thursday, May 2, 2:30 p.m.-4.30 pm
Venue: The Radisson, Caracol Room
Marine Resource Management with a Focus on the Role of Using the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Maritime Boundary Delimitation and Fisheries Cases.
Professor Warwick Gullett tours Caribbean under CRFM-ANCORS, Australia collaboration
BELIZE CITY, BELIZE; THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013 –
Professor Warwick Gullett, Dean of Law at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, and Deputy Director of Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), Australia’s only multidisciplinary university-based centre dedicated to research, education and training on ocean law, maritime security and natural marine resource management, will be in the Caribbean for a very important working visit next week.
The professor’s visit to the region is in line with a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding the parties signed last September, after 14 fisheries professionals from Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Suriname, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines attended the first Fisheries Law and Management Training Workshop at the University of Wollongong in Australia developed jointly for them by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and ANCORS.
Dr. Gullett will deliver a series of public lectures on developments in fisheries, and ocean law and policy during his visit to Barbados, Jamaica and Belize.
He is scheduled to arrive on Monday, April 22, in Barbados, where he will also participate in the Eleventh Meeting of the CRFM Forum of Fisheries Officers. While in Barbados, the professor will meet with representatives of the Fisheries Department, the Law Faculty and the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), UWI. He will also be hosted at a public Lecture at Accra Beach Hotel on Thursday, April 25.
The topic of that session will be Fisheries and the environment: Fisheries management legislation and principles of international law. It will address issues and challenges affecting the implementation of international principles, such as the precautionary principle in domestic fisheries law to protect, conserve and manage fisheries and marine biodiversity.
Professor Gullett travels next to Jamaica, where he is due to meet on Monday, April 29 and Tuesday, April 30 with officials of the Jamaica Fisheries Division and the Ministry of Agriculture; the Principal of Norman Manley Law School, and Head of the Department of Life Sciences at UWI-Jamaica.
In Jamaica, Dr. Gullett will also deliver a public lecture, this time focusing on The Transposition of Principles of International Law into Domestic Legislation to Combat Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) Fishing. Emphasis will be especially placed on the legal and policy framework for protection, conservation and management of marine living resources, with special focus on combating the scourges of poaching and IUU fishing by foreign and domestic fishers.
The third and final leg of Professor’s Gullett’s Caribbean tour is Belize, where he has meetings scheduled with the Fisheries Department, the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute, the University of Belize, and the CRFM, headquartered in Belize.
Professor Warwick Gullet will deliver his third public lecture on the occasion of this Caribbean tour on Thursday, May 2, on the topic, Marine Resource Management with a Focus on the Role of Using the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Maritime Boundary Delimitation and Fisheries Cases. During the presentation, Professor Gullett will examine the process and risk of asking the ICJ to determine a maritime boundary dispute (which would follow a sovereignty determination), and he will explain the evolving approach in international law to determine maritime boundaries.
Before his return to Australia on Friday, May 3, Professor Gullett intends to further consultations with officials of CRFM member states and the Secretariat, as well as UWI, to strengthen collaboration between ANCORS/University of Wollongong and key Caribbean regional institutions in fisheries and marine resource management.