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Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat through the
Belize-based Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism
(CRFM) is currently spearheading talks with the Government
of Japan and the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA) for the development of a master plan for fisheries
and aquaculture development in the Caribbean. At a meeting
of CARICOM Directors of Fisheries/Chief Fisheries Officers
and members of a JICA study team on Friday 4 March,
CARICOM Secretary-General Mr. Edwin Carrington underscored
the importance of the sector to Regional economies and
urged the early implementation of the project.
Speaking
at the opening of the meeting at the CARICOM Secretariat’s
offices in Georgetown, Guyana, Mr. Carrington said
fisheries and aquaculture development and management
have far reaching positive implications for the sustainable
livelihood of the people of the Caribbean Community.
The sector he said “has been a major contributor
to their nutrition and food security and to foreign
exchange earnings and poverty alleviation.”
He added that it has also been a source of employment,
recreation and tourism development, and has also enhanced
the development and socio-economic stability of rural
and coastal communities.
While
expressing CARICOM’s recognition of the fact
that fishery resources must be pursued in the context
of strategies that will result on the sustainable
development and management of the Caribbean Sea, the
CARICOM Secretary-General pointed to several factors
that now impede such an approach. These include limited
research capacity, lack of harvesting and processing
technology, inadequate marketing and trade arrangements
for fish and fishery products, as well as scarcity
of financial resources.
Acknowledging Japan’s track record in the management
and utilisation of fisheries and other aquatic resources,
the CARICOM official said the organisation saw clear
benefits from capitalizing on the wealth of knowledge,
technical expertise and financial resources that Japan
makes available through various technical agreements.
He pointed to CARICOM’s own experience in the
field, having coordinated the CARICOM Fisheries and
Resource Management Programme between 1991 and 2001,
which led to the establishment of the CRFM.
In
enunciating the CRFM’s mandate to promote and
facilitate the responsible utilisation of the Region’s
fisheries and other aquatic resources for the economic
and social benefit of current and future populations,
Mr. Carrington noted that, “With the decline
of major traditional industries such as sugar and
bananas, among others, this mandate has taken on greater
urgency as we pursue a diversified path to our sustainable
development through the establishment of the CARICOM
Single Market and Economy.”
The
Secretary-General said the fisheries project was being
pursued in the context of the New Framework for CARICOM-Japan
Cooperation for the Twenty-First Century, which was
approved by CARICOM Foreign Ministers and the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Japan in Tokyo in November 2000.
He conveyed the Region’s appreciation for Japan’s
continuing assistance in various areas, including
having made a significant contribution to the Government
of Guyana for the construction of the new permanent
Headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, which was
inaugurated on 19 February.
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