Belize City, Friday, 16 April 2021 (CRFM)— The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) today announced immediate availability of The Eastern Caribbean Flyingfish Management Plan 2020-2025 (ECFFMP 2020-2025)

“We see the ECFFMP 2020-2025 as contributing to efficient fishing activities within an economically viable and competitive small-scale fisheries sector. This should engender a comfortable standard of living for those who depend on flyingfish as a significant part of their income and culture,” said Peter A. Murray, Senior Fisheries Development and Management Advisor at the CRFM Secretariat.

A bountiful catch of the Eastern Caribbean flyingfish

Murray added that, “This ECFFMP effort is an important step in the process of putting the ecosystems approach to fisheries into practice both on land and in the sea – to truly ensure that there is fish for life.”

He informed that this iconic species of economic and cultural significance to our region is harvested by fishers using over 1,700 boats across the Eastern Caribbean.

The first Eastern Caribbean Flying Fish Fisheries Management Plan (2014-2019) was approved in May 2014 by CARICOM fisheries ministers, assembled as the CRFM’s highest decision-making body – the Ministerial Council. It marked the first time the Caribbean Community approved a Sub-regional fisheries management plan for the shared resource.

The Eastern Caribbean Flyingfish Management Plan (2020-2025), which was approved by the CRFM Ministerial Council in 2019, is an updated version of the 2014-2019 plan, driven by feedback from scientists, fishers, and fisheries officers in CRFM Member States that depend on the flyingfish fishery.

The goals of the ECFFMP are enhanced governance, stakeholder management culture, data management and adaptive management areas in the seas and islands of the CARICOM region to achieve sustainable use of the stocks.

The CRFM Secretariat developed the Eastern Caribbean Flyingfish Fishery Management Plan (2020-2025) with generous funding via the UNDP/GEF project, “Catalysing Implementation of the Strategic Action Programme for the Sustainable Management of shared Living Marine Resources in the Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf (CLME+ Project)”.

The ECFFMP is intended to be used as a daily guide and handy reference by technocrats and primary stakeholders in policymaking and execution of the ecosystem approach to fisheries.

To mark the release of the plan and to foster public awareness of its purpose and promise, a limited series of not-for-sale promotional items, ranging from caps and bags to notebooks and flash drives, was also produced for distribution to a variety of stakeholders, from high school students to fishers to householders.

In addition, a companion brochure, intended to aid in the marketing of the ECFFMP, has been designed. The brochure is a fisher-friendly vehicle for communicating and promoting a new brand and logo for the ECFFMP. While technocrats – fisheries officials – form the book’s primary audience, the brochure was written and designed for larger public audiences – from fishers to high school students. The brochure reinforces the concept of the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF), which guides the fisheries management plan.

Murray said: “EAF is identified as a ‘fundamental principle’ to guide implementation of the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy (CCCFP) and is recognized in the CCCFP for the conservation and management of CARICOM’s fisheries resources.”

He explained that beyond the CARICOM/CRFM sub-region, the EAF has also gained traction as marine ecosystem-based management (EBM) incorporated into a vision for the Wider Caribbean Region. As such, CRFM Member States and stakeholder organisations, of several types and at several levels, have already expressed their commitment to EAF through both words and action.

The management plan project is being implemented in collaboration with six national focal points, the fisheries divisions of Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Dominica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Although Antigua and Barbuda lacks a flyingfish fishery, its fisheries authorities have expressed an interest in keeping abreast of the ECFFMP. Therefore, they are included to a limited extent in the project.

“The commercial significance of flyingfish to the six focal point nations means that public education and awareness are essential to making the plan work for the benefit of all those who live on and from this species,” the fisheries advisor said.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS AN ELECTRONIC COPY OF THE NEW PLAN

Ministerial delegations from Caribbean and Central American countries to discuss strategic actions for the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector

Belize City, Monday, 30 September 2019 (CRFM)—Ministerial Fisheries delegations from countries across the Caribbean and Central America will converge in Belize this week for high-level talks aimed at solidifying partnerships at the political level, as well as setting out priority areas for attention and mutual cooperation.

On Tuesday, 1 October 2019, the CRFM will convene the Ninth Special Meeting of its Ministerial Council, the chief decision-making arm of the inter-governmental CARICOM agency. A priority item on the agenda of the CRFM meeting is a regional plan of action to combat Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. The Caribbean Ministers will also discuss international issues important to Member States, such as the World Trade Organization negotiations on Fisheries Subsidies.

Following the CRFM Ministerial Meeting, on Wednesday, 2 October 2019, the CARICOM delegations will dialogue with their counterparts from Central America during their second joint high-level meeting. The first ministerial meeting of CRFM and the Organization for Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Central American Isthmus (OSPESCA) was hosted on 3-4 September 2012 in Belize, a member of both sub-regional organizations.

On the agenda of the upcoming CRFM- OSPESCA meeting are pressing issues that confront both sub-regions. High on the agenda are IUU fishing; climate change and disaster risk management; blue economic growth; and the sustainable use, management and conservation of key species such as queen conch, lobster, pelagic species, sharks and reef fishes.

The Fisheries sector is one of the important employers across our region (Photo: CRFM)

CRFM Executive Director, Milton Haughton, said: “The aim of our meeting is to strengthen regional cooperation and integration initiatives to improve implementation of our respective fisheries policies and address the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; in particular, Sustainable Development Goal 14 on Oceans and Seas. We are enhancing our partnership to make progress on some of the big issues regarding sustainable development and conservation of fisheries and aquaculture in the region and in our national economies by enhancing food and nutrition security, providing jobs and livelihoods, and improving trade and resilience of fishing communities to climate change and related hazards.”

The parties – CRFM and OSPESCA – intend to update their 2012 Joint Plan of Action, setting out the specific priority areas of cooperation over the next five years. It is also expected that a Ministerial Declaration addressing areas of common interest and charting the way forward for collaborative action will be concluded and signed by participating Ministers.

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE, MONDAY, 1 October 2018 (CRFM)—The state of the Eastern Caribbean flyingfish, as well as an updated plan to improve the management of this valuable resource shared across many Eastern Caribbean States, will be discussed at a two-day meeting being convened in Barbados today, Monday, 1 October 2018.

The discussions will take place in the context of the Special Meeting of the Joint Working Group on Flyingfish in the Eastern Caribbean, constituted by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Chief Fisheries Officers, as well as representatives of fisherfolk organizations, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, and development partners such as FAO-WECAFC, the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), and the French Marine Research Agency – IFREMER, are due to attend the meeting, being held at the Blue Horizon Hotel in Christ Church, Barbados.

“This meeting of the Joint CRFM/WECAFC Working Group on Flyingfish is timely and important given the challenges we face in the region from climate related changes affecting the marine environment and flyingfish stocks, and ultimately the livelihoods and food security of thousands of persons engaged along the entire flyingfish value chain,” said Milton Haughton, Executive Director of the CRFM.

“Our objective is to use the best available information and international best practices to make and implement reforms, and to work together to address the challenges and ensure sustainable and profitable fisheries now and in future,” Haughton added.

The stakeholders have been engaged in a series of consultations and technical studies towards strengthening governance arrangements, such as updating the Eastern Caribbean Flyingfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which was adopted in 2014, as well as developing a policy for the sharing of data and information among the countries involved in the fisheries. The updated FMP is intended to improve the efficiency and viability of the sector and would also be adaptable to other fisheries.

The flyingfish initiative also focuses on improving stakeholder participation in planning and decision-making and improving collaboration between CARICOM States and the French Islands in research and management of the flyingfish fisheries.

The Joint CRFM/WECAFC Working Group is expected to produce tangible outputs for consideration by decision-makers at the meetings of the CRFM Ministerial Sub-Committee on Flyingfish as well as the Ministerial Council, both due to be held in early 2019.

Six CRFM Member States—Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago—are beneficiaries of a series of subprojects for which the CRFM is taking the lead. The CRFM had contracted Blue Earth Consultants, a division of the Eastern Research Group, to lead three of the six flyingfish sub-projects in collaboration with a team of local and international partners. CANARI in Trinidad and Tobago and Nexus Coastal Resource Management (Nexus) in Halifax, Canada, have been leading the remaining three sub-projects.

The CRFM, through this initiative, is emphasizing the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) for the management of the flyingfish Fishery, in a consultative approach that involves the full range of stakeholders. Th Initiative is supported with funding provided by the UNDP/GEF CLME+ Project which is working to achieve a healthy marine environment supporting enhanced livelihoods of the people of the Wider Caribbean.

A 16-minute documentary on the Eastern Caribbean flyingfish fisheries has also been produced as a part of the initiative.

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 (CRFM)—Seven Caribbean countries are participating in a recently launched series of subprojects which the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) is leading under a sustainable management initiative for the flyingfish fishery.

In highlighting the importance of the initiative, CRFM Executive Director, Milton Haughton, said: “We in the region are utilizing a common space and common living marine resource; therefore, we need to cooperatively manage these common interests. One of these common interests is the flyingfish fishery, and the governance framework developed for the flyingfish fishery could be scaled up and applied to other fisheries in the region.”

The CRFM, the agency which provides fisheries-related advice and recommendations at the CARICOM level, initiated 6 sub-projects during 2017 to implement the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) for the management of the four-wing flyingfish in the Eastern Caribbean. This species of economic and cultural significance to our region is harvested by over 1,700 boats across the Eastern Caribbean countries and in Martinique.

The sub-projects are being implemented in the focal countries of Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Dominica, and Trinidad and Tobago, plus the French Overseas Territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

The sub-projects, intended to support the long-term sustainability of the flyingfish, are part of the project funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Environment Facility (GEF) titled, Catalyzing Implementation of the Strategic Action Programme for the Sustainable Management of Shared Living Marine Resources in the Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems (the CLME+ Project). The project aims to strengthen governance of the living marine resources by addressing habitat degradation, pollution, unsustainable fishing, inter-sectoral coordination, and management regimes for various fishery types, such as reef, continental shelf and pelagic fisheries.

The CRFM contracted Blue Earth Consultants, a division of the Eastern Research Group, to lead three of the six flyingfish sub-projects in collaboration with a team of local and international partners. The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) in Trinidad and Tobago and Nexus Coastal Resource Management (Nexus) in Halifax, Canada, are leading the remaining three sub-projects.

Blue Earth Consultants will work with stakeholders and officials in the focal countries at both technical and political levels until the subprojects conclude in mid-2019. The team is taking a participatory approach to gaining feedback and it will lead a consultative process to updating the Eastern Caribbean Flyingfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The FMP provides context and guidance for the management of the Eastern Caribbean region’s flyingfish fishery, developed through a process of extensive research, regional cooperation, collaboration, and stakeholder consultation. Endorsed for regional implementation in 2014, the plan was the first of its kind to have been sanctioned by the Ministerial Council of the CRFM, consistent with the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy.

Under this initiative, a sub-regional data policy will be developed to provide guidelines on how countries and Overseas Territories participating in the flyingfish fishery will collect and share data. The current status of flyingfish fishery data collection will be investigated and legal and drafting support will be provided by the consultants to develop template regulations for countries to implement. New recommendations will also be developed on vessel licensing arrangements and a census will be conducted on existing fishing vessels used to target the flyingfish.

The initiative will support improved cooperation between the 17 CRFM Member States and France on the management and conservation of shared living marine resources. Regional cooperation is vital to the sub-projects, given that flyingfish are a migratory species fished by six CRFM countries and the French Territories. Therefore, the project is developing a cooperation agreement for the CRFM States and France, based on stakeholder and expert inputs.

Throughout the course of the three sub-projects to be led by Blue Earth, information products will be developed and shared with stakeholders and the public to increase understanding of the flyingfish fishery and the sub-project outcomes.
The CLME+ Project was catalyzed by a US$12.5 million grant from the GEF, matched by government, multi-lateral and other funding for a total of more than US$146 million.

The CLME+ Project was catalyzed by a US$12.5 million grant from the GEF, matched by government, multi-lateral and other funding for a total of more than US$146 million.

The four-wing flyingfish, scientifically known as Hirundichthys affinis, has long been the subject of attention in the region. Growing to just about 25cm in length, living at most just 1.5 years, and being caught in the fishery from as early as 5 to 7 months, this species supports a fishery that is of direct, significant importance for food and nutrition security and employment in at least in two CRFM Member States, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. Flyingfish is also becoming more important as a source of bait for the expanding offshore fisheries that target large pelagic species such as dolphinfish, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna, and billfishes, which are top predator fishes for which flyingfish is a natural food source. Consequently, flyingfish is a key species in the food web as any drastic declines in the size of the population is likely to affect fisheries for large pelagic species, many of which are high-priced. Considerable research has been conducted on the biology, ecology, genetic stock structure, distribution and migration of the four-wing flyingfish as well as attempts at assessing the health or status of the stock.

 The first Sub-Regional Fisheries Management Plan for Flyingfish in the Eastern Caribbean was formally approved by the CRFM Ministerial Council in May 2014 and is now cleared for implementation by CRFM Member States. A consultative process will facilitate stakeholder involvement in all stages of implementation.  

The Sub-regional FMP was prepared through a consultative processes that included stakeholders at national and regional levels including public hearings, national and regional workshops and reviews by national Fisheries Advisory Committees (FACs). 

The Sub-regional FMP proposes the following:

1. Development and implementation of national management plans for flyingfish fisheries, consistent with the sub-regional fisheries management plan, by the 2015/2016 flyingfish season, or as soon as is practically possible;
2. Annual reporting by States on progress made in development and implementation of national fisheries management plans and submission of data in an agreed, standardized format, to the respective Secretariats;
3. Establishment of an authorized national entry (license/permit) system for flyingfish fisheries, which enters into force for the flyingfish fisheries season 2015/2016, or as soon as is practically possible;
4. Conduct of an assessment to estimate stock abundance of flyingfish  prior to any significant development in the fishery;
5. Adoption of a precautionary sub-regional total annual catch trigger point of 5000 tonnes;
6. Implementation of a precautionary sub-regional freeze on expansion of flyingfish fishing effort and/or fishing capacity applied to all authorised vessel types, should the agreed catch trigger point be realized, to be followed by reassessment of resource status and adaptive management;
7. Strengthen current national data collection systems to facilitate improved assessment and management of the resource as well as monitoring and evaluation of implementation of national and sub-regional fisheries management plans.

The Sub-regional FMP also recognizes that overall management of the flyingfish fisheries needs to be improved by taking the following actions:

1. improving and harmonizing data collection and analysis in the sub-region;
2. prioritising the development of a protocol on improving and harmonizing fisheries management legislation, to address specifically flyingfish vessel licensing and registration systems in the sub-region;
3. establishment of a sub-regional flyingfish catch and effort database[1] to be managed by the CRFM Secretariat;
4. establishment of a sub-regional flyingfish vessel registry database[2] to be managed by the CRFM Secretariat;
5. prioritising the development of a protocol on data and information sharing;
6. national monitoring of catch levels in real time, and timely reporting to the CRFM Secretariat;

1. formalizing the relationship between the CRFM and France to ensure France’s involvement in the management process as far as the flyingfish fishery in the EEZs of its Departments in the region are concerned;
2. improved monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement mechanisms for flyingfish fisheries and ending IUU fishing;
3.  implementing national programmes to build stakeholder awareness on the management measures to be implemented and related legislation and enforcement measures;
4. institution of national training and public awareness programmes to strengthen fishers’ participation in the management process;
5. national reporting to the CRFM or WECAFC, whichever is relevant, so as to inform updates to resource assessments, proposed management measures and amendment of the sub-regional FMP; and
6. promotion of the principles and provisions enshrined in fisheries and related regional and  international agreements to which countries are signatory.

This management approach demonstrates the commitment of the CRFM and the Eastern Caribbean sub-region towards the conservation of their common or shared fisheries resources and related ecosystems for the long term sustainability of the resources and socio-economic benefit of the people of the region.

This updated Sub-regional FMP further proposes a number of studies, which aim to: (i) generate information about the flyingfish industry that is needed to attract investments in sustainable harvesting and value-addition of flyingfish; (ii) further understand the health of the marine ecosystem, which supports the flyingfish fishery; and (iii) facilitate development of operational objectives, indicators and reference points, in consultation with stakeholders, so as to effectively monitor and evaluate implementation of the FMP at the national and regional levels, according to the agreed management priorities. 

A copy of the Sub-Regional FMP may be downloaded by clicking the link highlighted above.

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE, MAY 24 (CRFM)--A historic Flying Fish Fisheries Policy has been endorsed by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism’s (CRFM) Ministerial Council.

The Sub-Regional Fishery Management Plan for the Eastern Caribbean Flying Fish Fishery was approved at the council’s just concluded eighth meeting held at the Fort Young Hotel in Roseau, Dominica.

The CRFM’s Executive Director Milton Haughton (photo below) says it is the first time the Caribbean has approved a joint management plan for the shared resource. 

“This is a significant development because this is the way we need to go in order to strengthen the governance arrangements for the shared resources, so this is a first step,” he said.

Haughton says the plan is necessary for the entire region but particularly Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica, which depend on the marine resource.

“Flying fish is shared by these countries. Six CARICOM states, plus the French Department of Martinique, exploit the flying fish at this time. These countries need to come together and together decide on the measures that they would put in place to ensure sustainable utilization, proper management and conservation of this fishery,” he added.

Haughton said this is important so that fishermen can have decent livelihoods, and ensure optimum production for food security and external trade.

Meanwhile, immediate past chairman of the Ministerial Council, Barbados’ Minister of Agriculture, Dr. David Estwick, says a pending fishing agreement between Barbados and Trinidad is being considered by the Barbados’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He explained that because it is a foreign trade issue, the agreement does not lie with his ministry.

“I believe very strongly that the interaction of the various ministers of fisheries [should] allow, therefore, a portal through which you can get into the cabinet and get up to the Prime Ministers, but that is not the way it is structured,” he said.

Dr. Estwick continued: “Within the exclusive economic zone and given that we don’t have the classical 200-mile space sometimes delimiting both countries, I really believe that at the ministerial level, that level of minister-to-minister discussion could resolve a whole lot of this set of delimitations and set the environment for truly having access to the marine space and the resources within that marine space without forming encumbrances.”

Haughton says that with the Sub-Regional Fishery Management Plan for the Eastern Caribbean Flying Fish Fishery now endorsed at the council level, the next step is implementation.

The management plan for the flying fish was prepared with the assistance of FAO/WECAFC, the CLME Project and CERMES-UWI.

3013CRFM

On Friday, 22 February 2013, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) will convene a meeting of seven Caribbean countries currently harvesting the Eastern Caribbean flyingfish (scientific name: Hirundichthys affinis), in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, to review governance and management issues that require immediate attention.