For Immediate Release Strengthening Grenadian fisherfolk to participate in governance Port of Spain. June 17, 2014 - Over 34 fisherfolk leaders from five primary fisherfolk organisations in Carriacou, Petite Martinique and Grenada, and representatives from the Fisheries Division participated in a National Fisherfolk Workshop, in Grenada, from May 29 - 30, 2014. This workshop was aimed at strengthening the capacities of the fisherfolk organisations in Grenada to better participate in the national, regional and international processes for developing and implementing fisheries and related policies. During the workshop, participants carried out a problem tree analysis which identified challenges to fisherfolk organisations and fisherfolk in areas such as the cost of fishing operations, market intelligence, development of fisherfolk organisations, fisheries policy, governance and management, and social security for fisherfolk. Then, they determined the likely solutions, including the capacities and resources required to address these challenges. They recognised the need to form a national fisherfolk organisation to advocate for changes in the national and regional policy, institutional and planning arrangements that would better address their issues. As a result, they set up an interim committee comprised of representatives of the various fisherfolk organisations to promote the formation of a national fisherfolk organisation. In his evaluation of the two day workshop, James Nicholas, President of the Southern Fishermen Association, said The main objectives were met. The use of the Problem Tree was very interesting and informative as it allowed us to express our issues in this industry, and pointed to the need for a national fisherfolk organisation. We see this as the way forward. The Workshop was co-facilitated by Toby Francis Calliste, mentor, and Terrence Phillips, Senior Technical Officer, CANARI. [cid:[email protected]] Panel discussion on fisheries and related policies Supporting the engagement of fisherfolk is especially critical now, as there are a number of international, regional and national policies being developed and implemented that will impact on their livelihoods. The Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Organistions (CNFO), in consultation with its membership, represented the regions fisherfolk at the recently concluded negotiations and approval of the International Guidelines on Securing Sustainable Small Scale Fisheries, which were coordinated by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). At the regional level, they are seeking to input into the operationalization of the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy and the Castries (St. Lucia) Declaration on IUU fishing. The workshop was convened under the over 1 million Euro European Union funded project Enhancing food security from the fisheries sector in the Caribbean: Building the capacity of regional and national fisherfolk organisation networks to participate in fisheries governance and management, which is targeting fisherfolk organisations in the countries of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos. It is being implemented by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), working in partnership with the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies of the University of the West Indies (UWI-CERMES), Panos Caribbean, Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Associations (CNFO) and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CFRM). END
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 17:21:46 +0000
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