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St. Kitts and Nevis hosts 17th Meeting of the Caribbean Fisheries Forum

Wednesday 20th March 2019, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), an intergovernmental organization established to promote and facilitate the responsible use of the regions fisheries resources, will convene its annual meeting of the heads of 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 St. Kitts and Nevis.

The CRFM will convene the 17th Meeting of the Caribbean Fisheries Forum on Wednesday, 20th and Thursday 21st March 2018 at the Bird Rock Beach Hotel in St. Kitts. International and regional partner organizations, observers and stakeholders from the fisheries and aquaculture sector have also been invited to the event, organized in collaboration with the Department of Marine Resources.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources et al, Mr. Alister Edwards will chair the opening ceremony, remarks by Mr. Milton Haughton CRFM Executive Director then the Honorable Minister Hamilton, Minster of Marine Resources et al, presenting the event’s speech. Ms. Rhosyll Jeffers, Assistant Secretary to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Nevis will deliver closing remarks.   

The Director of St. Kitts and Nevis Department of Marine Resources, Mr. Marc Williams will represent St. Kitts and Nevis and is expected to serve as chairman of the Forum at the meeting. Participants will receive an update on the progress of programmes, projects and activities being undertaken by the CRFM and prepare recommendations to be presented to the CRFM’s Ministerial Council when it meets in May 2019 in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Among the areas listed for discussion by the Forum are management plans for key fisheries, co-management of fisheries involving stakeholders and government officials, cooperation with regional and international partners to improve management and sustainable use of marine resources; adaptation to climate change and disaster risk management in fisheries, and measures to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, among others.

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WiMAC MAKING WAVES

Women in Maritime Association Caribbean (WiMAC) Conference held in October 16th -19th, 2018, in Belize City hosted by the Belize Maritime Authority and International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize Facilitated by the International Maritime Organization. The conference’s theme was “Charting the Course for Generations of Women”. The representatives from St. Kitts and Nevis were Tricia Greaux-Department of Marine Resources and Tamica Lawrence- Ministry of Tourism Nevis.

The welcome remarks included “promoting maritime sector across the region by increasing our network and improving by sharing of ideas”.  Mr. Claudia Grant outgoing WiMAC President gave an overview of WiMAC’s goals, mission and vision to sustain the maritime sector. Ms. Helen Buni, IMO Technical Cooperation Division spoke about the inclusion of maritime education in the secondary schools within Belize and highlighting the launch of Women in Maritime logo. Hon. Tracy Taegar Panton encouraging and inspiring speech “continue to sustain the agitation of the systemic barriers”  “access to training and development programs in this global industry as there is only 2% of women in the seafaring workforce” “how we go about achieving the end goal is just as important as the achievement itself”.

Plenary convened with a presentation by Ms. Diane Quarless, ECLAC sub regional headquarters for the Caribbean, entitled “An integrated agenda for the economic and professional empowerment of women in the Caribbean maritime sector”.  Next, “Gender Equality” by Professor Opal Adisa, Gender and Development Studies, UWI and finally “Decent Work and Economic Growth, The ABC of women worker’s rights and gender equality- a case study for the maritime sector” by Ms. Claudia Coenjaert, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean.

Positioning for Professional Advancement Presentations were conducted by Sarita Mahabir-Lee -Maritime and Ocean Studies, UTT and Jennifer Nugent-Hill- Governmental and Community Affairs, Tropical Shipping. The work of IMO in the Caribbean Mr Colin Young – IMO Regional Maritime Adviser, IMO Women in Development Programme Ms. Helen Buni and Opportunities for Professional Development Dr. Momoko Kitada – World Maritime University.

The mentorship model for WiMAC, Integrating a role for WiMAC for the advancement of the women on the Caribbean maritime sector, an integrating session for sharing, learning and networking. Country presentations by Liaisons to track the status of the implementation of the SDGs with special emphasis on SDGs 4, 5, 8, and 14. The concluding presentation was themed “Nurturing for Sustainability” – the discussions resolved around conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources. The new Governing Council was also voted into office. The Belizean Port Authority hosted a field trip to Altun Ha Archaeological Reserve for the participants.

A St. Kitts and Nevis WiMAC Chapter is on the horizon to be launched, we hope we get the support of the community in this venture.

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Climate Change Adaptation for Fisheries

“The project launching workshop for CC4FISH (Climate Change Adaption in the Eastern Caribbean Fisheries Sector) was very timely as we need to take a more active response as the fisheries sector is particularly vulnerable to climate change “said Nikkita Browne, SKN National Focal Point – CC4FISH project.

From February 7 – 9 2017, in Barbados, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) conducted a project launching workshop for CC4FISH (Climate Change Adaption in the Eastern Caribbean Fisheries Sector).  Nikkita Browne-SKN National Focal Point and Tricia Greaux – Marine Management Area and Habitat Monitoring Officer from the Department of Marine Resources were country representatives at the workshop.

Raymon Van Anrooij, FAO/WECAFC – “Having all of the project countries and regional partners together at the workshop promotes synergy and fast forwards the implementation of the project which is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and COP 21 targets for the Caribbean region “.  The project countries involved include; Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St.Kitts and Nevis, St.Lucia, St.Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. Entities such as COPACO, UWI, TNC, CRFM, CNFO, and Clear Caribbean serve as project partners.

Dr. Iris Monnereau – Regional Project Coordinator for CC4FISH gave an overview of the project and further commented “Given the impacts of climate change on the fisheries sector in recent years for example; increased intensity and number of tropical storms and the devastation they have on the fisheries sector,  habitat and biodiversity loss through coral bleaching events across the region and the enormous Sargassum influx in recent years which affected the sustainability of fisheries this workshop is critical. “

Projected implementation would span over a four year period. There are three project components; increased awareness and understanding of climate change impacts and vulnerability for effective climate change adaptation in the fisheries and aquaculture sector,   improved resilience of fisherfolk and coastal communities and aquaculturists, and climate change adaptation mainstreamed in multilevel fisheries governance.

Workshop SKN representatives – Nikkita Browne and Tricia Greaux

 

Nikkita and Tricia presenting the SKN Country presentation for implementation of the CC4FISH project

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St.Kitts and Nevis SocMon Workshop 2016

November 16 -18 2016 commenced the first phase of the Eastern Caribbean Marine Managed Areas Network (ECMMAN) Socio-Economic Monitoring for Coastal Management (SocMon) Capacity Building Workshop for the Narrows area in St.Kitts and Nevis.

The workshop’s overall objective was the development of the Site Monitoring Plan for the Narrows area through scoping exercises and capacity building through knowledge sharing – data collection, sampling, SocMon variables for monitoring and data analysis.  Technical expertise was provided by Maria Pena of Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) from the University of the West Indies Barbados http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/cermes/home.aspx .

Images from Scoping exercise

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Workshop training

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Participants for the workshop included; Thema Ward – Physical Planning of the Department of Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Environment, Clive Wilkinson- Fisheries Officer, Department of Fisheries Nevis, Daniele Moore – Outreach Officer, Nevis Historical and Conservation Society and from the Department of Marine Resources were Marcia Stubbs -Education and Compliance Officer, Nikkita Browne – GIS Officer, and Tricia Greaux – MMA and Habitat Monitoring Officer.
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The second phase of the workshop would take place November 28 -29 using SocMon Spatial Tools.

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