CANARI Media Release
Port of Spain, Trinidad – With the start of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season mere weeks away, many Caribbean islands are already bracing for the possibility of being hit by a tropical storm or hurricane.
One sector which has been particularly hard hit is the fisheries sector. Damage to important fisheries infrastructure and assets such as jetties, boats, and fishing gear can cost Caribbean countries millions of dollars in recovery and lost revenue.
These damages also have a substantial impact on the livelihoods of those who depend on fishing as a main source of income and could be a driving force behind increasing poverty in fishing communities. Other climate related effects such as warming oceans and rising sea levels also have negative impacts on the sector, including loss of important fisheries habitats.
Ensuring that countries integrate climate change adaption and disaster risk management into the policies and plans for their fisheries sectors is therefore vital for protecting important fisheries ecosystems, securing livelihoods and food production and reducing poverty.
Participants at the workshop held in Anguilla, January 22-25, 2019
In January 2019, the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies of the University of the West Indies (UWICERMES) hosted training workshops in Anguilla and Montserrat with policy makers, fisheries managers, fisherfolk and other key stakeholders to demonstrate how climate change adaption and disaster risk management can be practically incorporated into fisheries management plans. A total of 69 participants from both islands, attended the four-day workshops.
The training workshops used the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) toolbox to help participants decide what practical solutions they could apply given their particular circumstances and resources. Overall, participants found the toolkit easy to use. Participants in particular found the section of the toolkit on communication to be very useful, with one participant in Anguilla noting that “communication and the means in which it is carried out among stakeholder groups is critical in fisheries planning.”
Representatives of the Fisheries and Ocean Resources Unit in Montserrat receive a copy of the EAF toolkit
As a follow-up to the workshops, both Anguilla and Montserrat will take steps to update their fisheries management plans to mainstream climate change adaption and disaster risk management using an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries. Part of the training also specifically targeted fisherfolk in an effort to get them more involved in stewardship actions that would help protect and conserve the marine habitats upon which they depend, and reduce their vulnerability to climate change impacts. A small grants call was sent out in March 2019 to fisherfolk organisations in both islands for proposals on projects to address climate change adaptation and disaster risk management through stewardship and innovative solutions. The selected projects will launch in June 2019 and end in December 2019.
For further information, please contact: Ainka Granderson, Senior Technical Officer, CANARI at ainka@canari.org or +1-868-638-6062.
About the project:
The training workshops and small
grant programme are both key activities under the 3-year Climate change
adaptation in the fisheries of Anguilla and Montserrat project (April 2017-
March 2020). This project is being is being implemented by the Caribbean
Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) in partnership with the Department of
Fisheries and Marine Resources – Anguilla, Fisheries and Ocean Resources Unit –
Montserrat and the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies of
the University of the West Indies (UWI-CERMES). The project is funded by the
Government of the United Kingdom from the Darwin Plus: Overseas Territories
Environment and Climate Fund under the Darwin Initiative. See here for more
information on the project:
Climate Change Adaptation In The Fisheries Of Anguilla And Montserrat (April 2017-March 2020)
About CANARI:
The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is a regional technical non-profit organisation which has been working in the islands of the Caribbean for 30 years. Our mission is to promote equitable participation and effective collaboration in managing natural resources critical to development. Our programmes focus on capacity building, policy planning and development, research, sharing and dissemination of lessons learned, and fostering regional partnerships.
Ocean Governance and Fisheries
The Caribbean region is ranked among
one of the most biodiverse regions of the world. In the OECS increasing
awareness is being placed on marine areas which hold an abundance of natural
resources including rich biodiversity, living resources both marine and terrestrial
and nonliving resources in the form of mineral and natural products. In
comparison to the land area the OECS has many times more marine area as
prescribed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Law of the Sea.
While, the OECS has exercised jurisdiction by legislation over the water column
and the accompanying living and non-living resources, the benefits to be
derived are not fully maximized but nonetheless many resources are utilized.
However, many decades of use and exploitation of the marine environment with
inadequate resource management programmes has left a growing evidence of
degradation of its critical and vulnerable ecosystems. Some of the drivers of
this degradation are those activities associated with poorly-planned coastal and
urban development, unsustainable tourism, land based and marine sources of
pollution, over-exploitation of living resources, removal of keystone species
and the proliferation of invasive species. Notwithstanding, the economic
potential of some marine resources remains unassessed or underutilized. These
latter resources include, but are not limited to, non-living resources such as
petroleum products, marine renewable energy sources, and mineable resources.
