Marine aquaculture—also known as mariculture—is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish and shrimp in the ocean or coastal environments using systems like floating cages, sea pens, or coastal ponds. Unlike inland aquaculture, mariculture harnesses the sea’s natural resources to sustainably produce seafood. It offers the potential to reduce reliance on imports, generate employment, and support coastal livelihoods, while also promoting innovation through hatcheries, improved feeds, and integrated multi-trophic systems.

The Caribbean is uniquely positioned for success in this sector, with clean waters, suitable native species, and growing demand for healthy, locally farmed seafood. Yet many CARICOM states still import over half of their fish, highlighting the urgent need to build local capacity. This webinar series will bring together leading experts and practitioners to share the technical and strategic knowledge required to unlock mariculture potential and build resilience across the region.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released four (4) recordings from the Caribbean Mariculture Webinar Series, held during September to October 2025. This series was organized under the CARICOM Sub-Regional Mariculture Project.

The initiative is designed to strengthen national and regional capacity in marine aquaculture, with a focus on practical knowledge transfer that supports food security, economic growth, and sustainable coastal development.

Full Playlist 

 Unlocking Mariculture potential in the Caribbean

Building and Managing Cage Farms: Engineering and Daily Operations for Finfish Grow-Out

From Hatch to Sea: Broodstock, Larval Rearing, and Fingerling Transport for Marine Finfish

Feeding the future: Marine Finfish Nutrition and Local Feed Opportunities

Information and resources courtesy UN FAO.

Fisheries and aquaculture, including mariculture, supports food security, sustainable livelihoods, trade, employment, and even cross-sectoral growth across the Caribbean economy—both the blue and the green economies which span sectors across terrestrial and coastal marine expanses.

Small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in Member States of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) employ almost 540,000 people, including women and youth, accounting for 6% of the labour force of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), according to data compiled and analysed by Mrs. June Masters, Statistics and Information Analyst at the CRFM Secretariat.

Across the seventeen CRFM Member States, almost 130,000 fishers—approximately 10% of them females—harvested an estimated 150,000 tonnes of seafood valued at US$527 million during 2023, from the marine capture fisheries.

Since 2003, the domestic marine capture fisheries of CRFM Member States had contributed 40% to total sector production, whereas the high seas fisheries (still active only in Belize) added 58%, and aquaculture (including seamoss mariculture) - 2% to the total fish production.

Marine capture fisheries production stood at 335,196 tonnes (in live weight) in 2023, although over the prior 21 years (2003-2024), the annual average was 389,473 tonnes.

From 2023 to 2024, CRFM Member States imported approximately 87,200 tonnes of fish and fish products valued at US$ 348.4 million annually, while the countries exported 47,000 tonnes valued at US$ 231 million.

For the period spanning 2004 to 2022, the annual average value of seafood traded between CARICOM countries was estimated at US$50 million. The fish exports with the highest average values were fish fillets and frozen fish. Exports across the region included live fish, fish dried, salted or in brine, and smoked fish.

Noting an overall decline in marine capture fisheries production and an opportunity to improve growth and employment in the fisheries and aquaculture sector across CARICOM, Ministers responsible for fisheries, aquaculture and the blue economy in CRFM Member States took a bold and decisive move to set new goals. The Ministers deliberated and formulated their decisions during the 16^th Special Meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM)—an institution of CARICOM—convened on September 30, 2025, in Saint Kitts and Nevis, during Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2025.

Leveraging data to improve production and earnings

At its 14^th Special Meeting convened during the 18^th Caribbean Week of Agriculture, held in 2024 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Council had stressed the need for the CRFM to take the lead in transforming the statistics and information into actionable knowledge through focused assessments and analyses of the data. It charged the CRFM Secretariat to develop prescriptive measures geared at optimising Caribbean blue economic growth and sustainable aquaculture (including mariculture), as well as to improve the production metrics and earnings for those working in the sector across CRFM Member States. At its recently held meeting, the Council set a timeline of early 2026 for the CRFM Secretariat to report back on actions taken to deliver upon this mandate.

Strengthening CARICOM’s Labour Force

Via Resolution No. SMC 16 (02) of 2025, passed in September 2025, the Council furthermore requested the development of an action plan for increasing employment in the fisheries and aquaculture sector over the next 5 years, from the current reported level of 6% of the CARICOM labour force.

It recommended that attention be given to value-added products and processing as a means of boosting employment opportunities in the fisheries and aquaculture (including mariculture) sector.

Boosting intraregional trade in CARICOM

Another noteworthy decision passed by the Council is its directive for the CRFM Secretariat to present a special report to the Council for adoption in 2026, on strategies for improving fisheries trade—with a focus on intraregional trade—using the lessons learned from experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CRFM Ministerial Council showed keen interest in reports from the CRFM Secretariat signaling that intra-regional trade yielded notable improvements during the pandemic and post-pandemic period. Intra-regional trade—that is, trade in fisheries and aquaculture products between CARICOM countries—accounts for approximately 15% of CARICOM’s regional trade, according to data available to the CRFM.

For the period spanning 2004 to 2022, the annual average value of seafood traded between CARICOM countries was estimated at US$50 million. The fish exports with the highest average values were fish fillets and frozen fish. Exports across the region included live fish, fish dried, salted or in brine, and smoked fish.

Belize City, Thursday, 5 May 2016 (CRFM)—The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) is convening a meeting of fisheries experts to chart the course for a new study to look at the impacts of rising cost factors of fishing operations, such as labor, fuel, fishing gear, repair and maintenance, and capital.

The expert working group, which meets in Bridgetown, Barbados today, Thursday, 5 May and tomorrow, Friday, 6 May 2016, will include fisheries experts from CRFM Member States, the CRFM Secretariat, the private sector and the UN FAO, the partner agency for the initiative.

The consultant for the project, Claudia Stella Beltrán Turriago, an economist, will join the experts in Barbados, as they agree on the best methodology to carry out the study. They will also select beneficiary countries which will be targeted for fieldwork and remote surveys, which will entail surveys of small-scale and industrial fishers, suppliers, traders and exporters. 

After the study is completed, a policy brief will be prepared for action by Caribbean leaders. The brief will highlight the major findings and recommendations, including policy options and strategies to increase efficiency, productivity and sustainability of the fisheries and aquaculture sector, while reducing economic risks.

Milton Haughton, Executive Director of the CRFM, notes that, “This study should help fishers and fishing companies to improve profits and income. It is one of the many initiatives being pursued by the CRFM Member States to improve food security. We hope it will also transform, reposition and improve economic and ecological resilience in the fisheries sector, in response to climate change and in keeping with our commitments under the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy.”

The beneficiary countries are the 17 states which are members of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism, as well as countries covered by a UN/FAO project on the Sustainable Management of Bycatch in Trawl Fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean (the REBYC-II LAC), funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The Caribbean region is very susceptible to fluctuations in world food prices due to high dependence on imported products. The region’s food security is furthermore threatened by the adverse impacts of climate change and climate variability, which exacerbate droughts and floods in major agriculture producing nations, and which are also affecting the region’s coastal and marine ecosystems, like coral reefs, and our fisheries.

In highlighting the need for the study, the CRFM notes that, “Member States need to guard against future economic shocks, such as spikes in fuel prices and other inputs; reduce economic risks; modernize with a view to improving the efficiency of the region’s fishing fleets; reduce barriers to accessing new markets; and address price fluctuations for commercially important species by promoting and developing value-added products.”