BELIZE
CITY, BELIZE, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 (CRFM)—Caribbean Fisheries
Ministers who met for two days last week in Saint Kitts and Nevis
have underscored the need for the region to take urgent action to
address the ongoing Sargassum scourge, as well as Illegal, Unreported
and Unregulated (IUU) fishing—two of the most pressing challenges
responsible for multimillion-dollar losses to the regional economy.

Honourable
Eugene Hamilton, Minister of Agriculture, Health, National Health
Insurance, Human Settlements, Community Development, Gender Affairs,
Social Services, Land and Cooperatives, of Saint Kitts and Nevis,
delivered the feature address at the official ceremony of the 13th
Regular Meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Caribbean Regional
Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), opened on Thursday, 13 June 2019 at the
Marriott Resort in Frigate Bay, Saint Kitts and Nevis.

“I
applaud all of our efforts as Member States, as we continually stress
the need to establish sustainable small-scale fisheries; as we
institute mechanisms for fisheries co-management; and as we promote
mitigation and adaptation measures as climate change and disaster
risk management responses,” Minister Hamilton said.

Later
on during the proceedings, Minister Hamilton assumed chairmanship of
the Council from Montserrat’s Minister of Agriculture, Trade,
Lands, Housing and the Environment, Honourable David Osborne. St.
Lucia was elected as vice chair.

Speaking
on behalf of Minister Osborne, Mrs. Eulyn Silcott-Greaves, Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, Lands, Housing and the
Environment, of Montserrat, charged the Council to “be mindful of
the challenges and complexities that we are called to mitigate—if
not fully remedy—such as climate change and the increasing demand
on the fisheries, aquaculture and oceans systems for goods and
services.”

In his
remarks to the Council, Mr. Milton Haughton, Executive Director of
the CRFM, said: “We are establishing a solid foundation and a
strong regional policy framework within the context of the Caribbean
Community Common Fisheries Policy that should guide our actions over
the next 10 to 20 years in achieving our developmental objectives in
fisheries and aquaculture.” Haughton added that it is only through
joint efforts that the region can resolve problems such as those
associated with climate change, IUU fishing, and the Sargassum
inundation.

During Council
deliberations on the Sargassum problem, Grenada’s Minister of
Fisheries, Hon. Alvin Dabreo, emphasized the need for immediate
measures to curb the impacts. The meeting agreed that urgent action
is needed on multiple fronts to address the problem, and highlighted
the need for support from international development partners.

In
relation to IUU fishing, Hon. Floyd Green, Jamaica’s Minister of
State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and
Fisheries, spoke of the problems that Jamaica has recently been
facing due to IUU fishing by vessels from countries such as Honduras,
Nicaragua and Venezuela. Jamaica has had to extend the close-season
for the Queen Conch fishery indefinitely, due to the adverse effects
of IUU fishing on stock abundance.

The
Ministerial Council “[affirmed that] IUU fishing is a major problem
affecting Queen Conch fisheries in the region and highlighted the
need to more aggressively pursue national and regionally coordinated
action to combat IUU fishing and protect the fisheries resources,
including direct engagement with the flag States of the IUU vessels
and the market States where the IUU catches are exported.”

It
furthermore endorsed the collective
regional efforts to engage both the market States where IUU fish is
sold and the IUU fishing nations for conch, lobster and other
high-value species.

The
Ministers considered scientific advice and recommendations from the
17th Meeting of the Caribbean Fisheries Forum, held in
March in Saint Kitts and Nevis. This included measures to improve the
resilience of fishing communities and marine ecosystems to climate
change, as well as actions being taken to improve adaptation and
disaster risk response. Furthermore, it deliberated upon actions
needed to improve the conservation and management of fisheries
resources and ecosystems; strengthen systems for evidence-based
decision making; promote the blue economy; and strengthen
partnerships with development partners and donors.

Before
the Council Meeting, the CRFM convened the 3rd Meeting of
the Ministerial Sub-Committee on the Flyingfish Fishery in the
Eastern Caribbean. During that meeting, chaired by Hon. Ezekiel
Joseph, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning,
Natural Resources and Cooperatives, of Saint Lucia, the members noted
that a significant amount of work in support of conservation and
management of the Eastern Caribbean Flyingfish Fishery had been done
through the CLME+ Flyingfish Sub-project. The Council also signaled
its support for the finalization of the Sub-Regional Fisheries
Management Plan for Flyingfish in the Eastern Caribbean, 2020-2025.

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Photo CAPTIONS:

1. Delegates from CRFM
   Member States and CRFM Secretariat staff at the Thirteenth Regular
   Meeting of the Ministerial Council
   
2. Honourable Eugene
   Hamilton of Saint Kitts elected as chair of the CRFM Ministerial
   Council
   
3. Sargassum inundation
   -- seen here in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines -- continues to
   affect countries across the Caribbean