Description:

The ACP Fish II is the second phase of an EU programme, which has as its overall objective “to contribute to the sustainable and equitable management of fisheries in ACP countries”. The ACP Fish II aims to foster improved institutional capacity for fisheries and aquatic resources management. It specifically addresses knowledge requirements for sustainable management in ACP countries at all levels of decision-making.

Objectives and Outputs:

The overall objective of the Programme is to contribute to the sustainable and equitable management of fisheries in ACP countries, while the specific objective is to strengthen fisheries sectoral policy development and implementation in ACP Countries.   The expected project outputs are: improved fisheries policies and management plans at the regional and national levels; reinforced control and enforcement capabilities; reinforced national and regional research strategies and initiatives; developed business supportive regulatory frameworks and private sector investment; and increased knowledge sharing on fisheries management and trade at the regional level.

Status of Project:

Implementation of the project, which will be managed under decentralized management through a Programme Management Unit (PMU) based in Brussels and a set of Regional Facilitation Units (RFUs) located in Belize (CRFM Secretariat), Gabon, Senegal, Uganda, Mozambique and Fiji has commenced. In relation to the Caribbean the first activity, a Regional Needs Assessment Workshop was held in Belize on 27 - 28 October 2009.   

The First Meeting of the ACP Fish II Steering Committee was held on 29 January 2010 at the ACP Secretariat in Brussels to review the activities carried out during the start-up phase and the results of the regional needs assessment workshops. The Meeting also reviewed and adopted the first operational Programme Estimates (PE1). 

In May 2010 a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Agriculture, Belize, Agriconsulting Europe SA (AESA), Brussels, (Project implementing agency) and the CRFM Secretariat, Belize City was signed for office space on the ground floor of the CRFM Secretariat for the ACP Fish II Programme, Regional Facilitation Unit (RFU) Caribbean Office.

A second round of workshops was held over the period 31 August - 11 November 2010, with the Caribbean's workshop having been held on 28 - 29 October 2010 in Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis.  The principal outcome of this round of workshops was the presentation and validation of the Regional Action Plans, which had been prepared by the Regional Managers in close collaboration with all stakeholders in the countries in their regions, during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2010.

The ACP Fish II Steering Committee, which is comprised of representatives of the ACP Secretariat, CARICOM / CRFM, CEMAC, COMESA, ECCS, ECOWAS, the Pacific Islands Forum, SADCA and UEMOA, as well as the European Commission and the CU and RFUs of ACP Fish II, held its second Meeting in 05 November 2010. The Regional Action Plans, which had been validated at the second round of workshops, were presented and approved by the Steering Committee. Also, the second operational Programme Estimate was presented and approved by the Steering Committee.

Under PE1, one regional and three national projects were undertaken.  The objective of the regional project Finalisation of the Common Fisheries Policy was to complete a draft CFP for the Caribbean Community for submission to the CARICOM Heads of Government for consideration.  To this end, a Multidisciplinary Workshop was convened in Guyana during 12 - 14 April 2011.  The Meeting provided an opportunity for members of the group to discuss and clarify concerns; negotiate and arrive at agreement on the content of the draft agreement; propose working for the provisions of the draft agreement; and complete the draft agreement for submission to the Ministerial Council for consideration.  The Multidisciplinary Workshop produced a negotiated Draft Agreement on the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy.

The national projects were:

1.   Fisheries data enhancement project, Dominica - The objectives were: (i) to extract useful historic data contained in an obsolete database and put them in a useable format for easy access and analysis; (ii) to provide training for 4 members of staff; and (iii) to recommend an effective data management and archiving system.

2.   Develop and air 3 television and 6 radio clips, St. Lucia - The objectives of this project were to develop and air television and radio clips to promote awareness of critical aspects relevant to fisheries conservation and sustainable use.

3.   Production of a 15-minute documentary, Trinidad and Tobago - The objective of this project was the production and airing of a 15-minute documentary to increase public awareness on the proposed changes in fisheries management in Trinidad and Tobago.

The First Programme Monitoring Workshop was convened in Belize from 4 to 5 April 2011, to review the status of implementation of projects funded under the first phase from June 2009 to May 2011; formulate Terms of Reference / plans for projects to be implemented under the second phase (June 2011 to November 2012) and agreed on the implementaion plan; and share lessons learned and experiences of project implementation to-date.

 Project Outputs