Belize City, Belize, Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Over a hundred stakeholders from government and grassroots agencies, as well as regional and international organizations, will be gathering next week in Kingston, Jamaica, for a series of five multi-agency fisheries meetings spanning Wednesday, December 5 to Wednesday, December 12.

Speaking of the significance of the meetings, Milton Haughton, Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) said: “It is an opportunity for the countries and stakeholders, meaning government representatives as well as fisher folk and other stakeholders – including non-government organizations and civil society organizations – to get together to discuss issues of common interest and to come up with plans and programs for a brighter future.”

The meetings are convened by the CRFM in collaboration with the FAO Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), through funding and technical assistance provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Haughton said that the performance of the CRFM as an organization will be assessed during the course of the meetings. “We’ve been in operations now for almost 8 years, so we are stopping and taking stock of our performance over the last few years…” he said.

The review will pave the way for the CRFM Member States and collaborators to formulate a new eight-year strategic plan for the CRFM (2013 -2021).

Whereas the first two meetings will be focused on administrative work, the remaining three will focus on driving major fisheries initiatives forward, as we seek to transform, modernize and improve the aquaculture and fisheries sector. These meetings are aimed at ensuring a more secure future for those persons who depend upon fisheries and aquaculture resources for their livelihoods, particularly small-scale fishers and their families.

The third meeting, the FAO/CRFM/WECAFC Regional Small-Scale Fisheries Workshop, will center around small-scale fisheries development, more specifically, the development of international guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries, while the fourth is geared towards developing a strategy and action plan to respond to climate change and disaster risk management in fisheries and aquaculture across the Caribbean.

Haughton said they will be breaking new ground with the degree of inter-sectoral, inter-disciplinary and participatory approaches that they are taking.

“It is the first time that fisheries, disaster risk management and climate change officials will be meeting together with representatives of fisher-folk organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions, and international and regional development partners, to come up with collective plans and programs, and identify strategic directions to move the sector towards higher levels of outputs and sustainable development,” he explained.

Haughton elaborated that participants will be meeting to develop integrated plans across traditional sectoral lines that would address important areas of need within the fisheries and aquaculture sector.

Jamaica’s Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Roger Clarke will deliver the feature address at the official opening ceremony, which will take place at Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston, Jamaica, at 9:00 am on Thursday, December 6.

A press conference will immediately follow.

SUMMARY OF WORKSHOPS

Wednesday 5 December

Regional Workshop to Validate the Draft

Independent Performance Review of CRFM

Objective: To discuss and validate the initial analysis carried out by the FAO team working on the CRFM Performance Review and initiate the stakeholder discussions on the eight- year Strategic Plan for the CRFM (2013 -2021).

Thursday 6 December to Saturday, 8 December

FAO/CRFM/WECAFC Regional Small-Scale Fisheries Workshop

Objective: The overall objective of the workshop is to support the development of the International Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries (SSF) Guidelines by providing inputs and advice, both with regard to good policies and practices in the region and in respect of overall principles and contents and to provide comments on the current Zero Draft of the SSF Guidelines.

Discussions at the workshop will be forward looking and address implementation issues. The SSF Guidelines are intended to become an integral part of ongoing governance and development processes in support of small-scale fisheries. Accordingly, the workshop will promote cross-linkages between the SSF Guidelines and the policies and actions required in the Caribbean region.

Saturday 8 December

FAO/CRFM Regional Workshop to Validate Draft Report of Review of Current Fisheries Management Performance and

Conservation Measures in the WECAFC Region

Objective: To contribute to more effective management of marine and inland capture fisheries by FAO Members and other stakeholders in the Western Central Atlantic Region, and improve the state of fisheries resources, ecosystems and their sustainable use.

Monday 10 December to Wednesday 12 December

FAO/CRFM/CDEMA/CCCCC/WECAFC Regional Workshop on Formulation of a Strategy, Action Plan and Programme Proposal on Disaster Risk Management (DRM), Climate Change Adaptation in Fisheries and Aquaculture in the CARICOM Region

Objective: The overall purpose of this workshop is to contribute to strengthening regional and national inter-sectoral cooperation and the development of capacity to address climate change impacts and disasters in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. The workshop should offer advice to the above-mentioned agencies with regard to the content of the three draft reports that were produced in preparation for this meeting, but especially it should guide the agencies on the way forward to implement the strategy and action plan and programme proposal in order to benefit the people of the region.

For more information, please contact:

For the CRFM:

Milton Haughton

Executive Director

CRFM Secretariat

Belize City, Belize

Tel: 501-223-4443

Fax: 501-223-4446

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

A downloadable video can be accessed on Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/54144299