Category: CRFM

Region advancing protocol on Climate Change, Disaster Risk Management in Fisheries

Michelle Nurse Leave a comment
Delegates at the meeting

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE, THURSDAY, 19 April 2018 (CRFM)—Fisheries officials from Member States of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) met on 18 April, 2018, at the Montserrat Cultural Centre. The meeting was held to review and validate the Draft Protocol to Integrate Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Fisheries and Aquaculture into the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy.

Experts from non-government stakeholders in fisheries/aquaculture, climate change and disaster risk management attended the one-day meeting. They include the Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Organisations (CNFO), and regional and international organisations such as the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The CRFM—the CARICOM agency which works to promote sustainable development of the fisheries and aquaculture sector—is a regional partner on the Climate Change Adaptation in the Eastern Caribbean Fisheries Sector (CC4FISH) Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF); and implemented by FAO. It is under this umbrella that the new initiative is being implemented for the benefit of the CARICOM States. (more…)

Caribbean Fisheries Forum convenes in Montserrat

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Flying fish catch (CRFM photo)

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE, Friday, 13 April 2018 (CRFM)—Once a year, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) – an inter-governmental organisation established to promote and facilitate the responsible use of the region’s fisheries resources – convenes a meeting of heads of national fisheries authorities from its 17 Member States. This year, that group of the Caribbean technical experts who make up the Caribbean Fisheries Forum will meet for two days in Montserrat.

The CRFM will convene the 16th Meeting of the Caribbean Fisheries Forum on Monday, 16 April and Tuesday, 17 April, 2018, at the Montserrat Cultural Centre in Little Bay, Montserrat. International and regional partner organisations, observers and stakeholders from the fisheries and aquaculture sector have also been invited to the event, organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, Lands Housing and the Environment (MATHLE) in Montserrat.

Speakers at the opening ceremony will include Hon. David Osborne, Minister of Agriculture, Trade, Lands, Housing and the Environment, and Milton Haughton, Executive Director of the CRFM. Ms. Avery Galbraith-Smikle, Director of the Aquaculture Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Jamaica, will also address the gathering. (more…)

World Bank approves US$25 million for Dominica’s agricultural sector

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What was left of a greenhouse in Dominica after Hurricane Maria hit

The Agriculture sector in Dominica is to benefit from a US$115 million special World Bank Program for Dominica which will also benefit other sectors of the economy.

Prime Roosevelt Skerrit said on state-owned DBS Radio on Tuesday morning that 40 million dollars of that money had been approved for housing and 25 million dollars for agriculture and he expects that Minister of Agriculture will soon speak to the public in greater detail.

“It is very extensive and if properly implemented, it could benefit agriculture dramatically in Dominica resuscitation and the revitalization of these agricultural centres where you’re probably getting plants and providing support, tangible support to farmers. You’ll be providing farmers with direct support on the farms,” the prime minister stated.

Read more at: Dominica News Online

CRFM, UN University Fisheries Training Programme hold value chain workshop

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Team members listening to an explanation of the development of a variety of dried fish products produced by the seafood processor Haustak in Iceland (CRFM Photo)

 The  is teaming up again with the United Nations University Fisheries Training Programme (UNU-FTP) to hold a second value chain workshop, hoping to open doors to greater industry engagement than ever before and ultimately to maximize value from the fisheries resources harvested in the region.

At the invitation of the UNU-FTP, a CRFM team of three experts, Sharon Hutchinson from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus, Tullia Ible, Principal of the Caribbean Fisheries Training and Development Institute (CFTDI) and Susan Singh-Renton, Deputy Executive Director of the CRFM Secretariat, joined their counterparts in Iceland on 26 February to discuss and plan a second Value Chain Workshop that is expected to take place towards the end of May 2018 in Trinidad and Tobago. The first Workshop was held in July 2016 in Suriname and was lauded a success in building value chain management awareness for senior fisheries officers in July 2016.

For the Workshop coming up in May 2018, CRFM and UNU-FTP hope to engage more players from the fishing industry, particularly fish processors who are already in business, and routinely deal with value chain challenges. The organisers are also striving to facilitate industry to industry exchanges on the region’s own lessons and best practices in value chain management. (more…)

Eastern Caribbean fisherfolk, fisheries administrators introduced to new Early Warning System

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Introducing the new Fisheries Early Warning and Emergency Response (FEWER) (Photo via CRFM)

More than 30 male and female fishers from St Vincent and the Grenadines were introduced to a new Fisheries Early Warning and Emergency Response (FEWER) System at a workshop held at the Fisheries Division in St Vincent and the Grenadines on March 8.

Using an application for mobile phones, fishers are able to receive early warnings of risky weather and sea conditions and are able to share their information about local conditions and missing persons under FEWER. Besides training in the use of FEWER, participants also received valuable tips about caring for and using their phones.

This  workshop gave good information and the app is good because it helps pass on information easier to fishers, especially since a lot of persons go to sea and don’t take the time check on information about the weather conditions,” says Raoul Lewis, a fisherman based in Callaquia, St Vincent. (more…)