CRFM and CEFAS preparing the first ever Marine Climate Change report card for the Caribbean Region

The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) has been working with other Caribbean agencies and the Centre for Fisheries and Aquaculture (CEFAS), a marine science and technology agency sponsored by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, in preparing the first ever marine climate change report card for the Caribbean, under the Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme, funded by the UK government.
 
Peter A Murray, CRFM’s Programme Manager says “The CRFM is trying to ensure that the issue of climate change, as it relates to the fisheries sector, has come to the fore, because the CARICOM Heads of Government have put fish and fish products among the priority commodities for CARICOM.
 
According to CEFAS, the report card, due to be launched in March 2017, will provide comprehensive, peer-reviewed and highly accessible information, on what is already happening, what could happen in the future, case studies from across the region, knowledge gaps and potential socio-economic impacts.
 
Even before the initiative started in March 2016, CEFAS says it began by engaging the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC), another CARICOM agency which forms a part of the working group. The University of the West Indies (Mona) Climate Studies Group, has also been engaged through Dr. Michael Taylor.