Eastern Caribbean countries participate in project to manage shared flyingfish fishery

Flying fish. Image credit: John Cobb.
Fisheries

The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) is leading several countries in projects to support sustainable management of the Eastern Caribbean flyingfish fishery:

Seven Caribbean countries are participating in a recently launched series of subprojects which the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) is leading under a sustainable management initiative for the flyingfish fishery.

In highlighting the importance of the initiative, CRFM Executive Director, Milton Haughton, said: “We in the region are utilizing a common space and common living marine resource; therefore, we need to cooperatively manage these common interests. One of these common interests is the flyingfish fishery, and the governance framework developed for the flyingfish fishery could be scaled up and applied to other fisheries in the region.”

The CRFM, the agency which provides fisheries-related advice and recommendations at the CARICOM level, initiated 6 sub-projects during 2017 to implement the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) for the management of the four-wing flyingfish in the Eastern Caribbean. This species of economic and cultural significance to our region is harvested by over 1,700 boats across the Eastern Caribbean countries and in Martinique.

The sub-projects are being implemented in the focal countries of Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Dominica, and Trinidad and Tobago, plus the French Overseas Territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

The team is taking a participatory approach to gaining feedback and it will lead a consultative process to updating the Eastern Caribbean Flyingfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The FMP provides context and guidance for the management of the Eastern Caribbean region’s flyingfish fishery, developed through a process of extensive research, regional cooperation, collaboration, and stakeholder consultation.

Read more in the full CRFM media release.

 

[Image credit: John Cobb

No Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Fisheries
Darwin Initiative funds project to improve fisheries management in the BVI

The Government of the British Virgin Islands, in partnership with the UK Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), has received funding from the Darwin Initiative to build capacity for sustainable fisheries management in the BVI: This three-year project will review and consolidate existing …

Parrotfish. Image: Acquarius Sea Tours
Biodiversity
Conserving fish biodiversity helps protect coral reef health

Research from the Dominican Republic shows how greater fish biodiversity makes for healthier coral reefs: The health of coral reefs can be impacted as much by the diversity of fish that graze on them as by the amount of fish that do so, according to a new study by scientists …

Montserrat Living with Climate Change flyer. Image: CANARI.
Climate Change
CANARI seeks stories of living with climate change in Montserrat

The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is looking for stories from Montserrat of how the fisheries sector been affected by climate change: The #Living with Climate Change contest is being held as part of the Darwin Plus funded project Climate change adaptation in the fisheries of Anguilla and Montserrat from …