Deployment in Dominica of Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) – fishing technology advanced in the Caribbean, through CARICOM-Japan cooperation (Photo: Ifremer)
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Belize City - Japan’s
fisheries cooperation with CARICOM has spanned two decades. Following several
country seminars held over the past few weeks, the celebration of this
milestone—20 years of friendship and cooperation in fisheries—will climax this
week, when senior fisheries experts of Member States of the Caribbean Regional
Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and Japan meet in Trinidad and Tobago.
On that occasion, the development allies will reflect on
the achievements of their partnership, as well as Japan-funded fisheries
projects executed to date in the region.
The regional fisheries experts will also
discuss and identify future interventions that could be submitted to Japan for funding
consideration, especially in light of the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries
Policy and the CARICOM Strategic Plan, both recently adopted for the region.
The celebratory review of CARICOM’s fisheries
cooperation with Japan will form part of an upcoming regional fisheries
workshop which opens on Thursday, 4 December 2014 at the Hilton Hotel in Port
of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Hon. Jairam Seemungal, Minister of Land and
Marine Resources, will deliver the feature address at the event, being
organized under the auspices of the CRFM, CARICOM and Japan-CARICOM Friendship
Year 2014. H.E. Yoshimasa Tezuka, Japan’s Ambassador to Trinidad, and Milton
Haughton, Executive Director of the CRFM Secretariat, are also scheduled to
deliver remarks at the event.
“We, the
Members of CARICOM, recognize the long and exemplary tradition and commitment
of Japan in the sustainable use, conservation and management of the living marine
resources for sustainable development and improving the well-being and
livelihood of people, particularly the poor and vulnerable members of our
countries,” Haughton said, in commenting on the upcoming workshops.
The CRFM Executive Director lauded the
outstanding contribution and leadership role of Japan at the international
level in promoting sustainable fisheries and building capacity of developing
states towards this goal, not only in the Caribbean states but also in Africa,
Asia, Latin America and the Pacific.
"The CRFM is very pleased to be associated
with this event. Japan, like most of the CARICOM States, is surrounded by seas
and oceans, from which people derived innumerable benefits in the form of food,
jobs, transportation, information, culture, and recreation,” Haughton added.
On the day following the regional fisheries
workshop to review CARICOM-Japan fisheries cooperation, the parties will also
host a meeting to review the progress of the Caribbean Fisheries Co-Management
(CARIFICO) Project which commenced implementation in May 2013 through the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Workshop participants will also
determine ways in which implementation of CARIFICO can be advanced.
Under the Japan-funded CARIFICO project,
fisheries stakeholders in some Caribbean countries have been harnessing
increased catches and strengthening monitoring and management of pelagic fisheries
through the deployment of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs).
“Today, as the threats and challenges posed by
global warming, climate change, ocean acidification, and sea level rise,
along with marine pollution, and overfishing intensify, we have
to review and strengthen our efforts and alliances to conserve, protect
and
better utilize our coastal and marine resources for sustainable
development,
with special focus on creating a better future for our fishers and
coastal
communities that depend on the living marine resources for food security
and
livelihoods,” Haughton concluded.