Dominica benefited from an innovative CRFM fisheries training project which is now coming to an end

​An innovative fisheries project which the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) has been coordinating since 2013, in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) across six OECS Member States, is ending.
 
The Caribbean Fisheries Co-Management Project (CARIFICO) was developed in 2012. Between 2009 and 2012, CRFM and JICA worked on developing a masterplan for the sustainable use of fisheries resources for coastal communities in the Caribbean. The CARIFICO project is a follow up project recommended by the master plan. The project goal is developing & implementing fisheries co-management approaches in 6 pilot countries in the Eastern Caribbean & disseminating and sharing the experiences and knowledge acquired to the other CARICOM States. 
 
The pilot project field work was done in Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. The CRFM and JICA will convene a two-day meeting from November 30 – December 1, 2017 to review the project outcomes, as well as chart the way forward. The CARIFICO-CRFM Regional Seminar on Strengthening Fisheries Co-management in the Region will take place at the Bay Gardens Resort in Castries, St. Lucia.
 
An opening ceremony was held at 9:00 am on Thursday 30th November. Honorable Herod Stanislas, St. Lucia's Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources & Cooperatives, is billed to deliver the keynote address. Also scheduled to speak at the event are CRFM Executive Director - Milton Haughton; Permanent Secretary in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources & Cooperatives in Saint Lucia - John Calixte; Director of JICA’s Rural Development Department - Ichiro Mimura; and the Chief Fisheries Officer in Saint Lucia - Sarita Williams-Peter.
 
Haughton said CARIFICO was established roughly 5 years ago. Japan, which is very advanced in fisheries co-management and conservation, is supporting the initiative to transfer knowledge and build capacity in co-management in the Caribbean region, Haughton explained. Co-management is a governance system, where responsibility for resource management is shared between the government and resource users, in this case, local fishers and their communities.