Caricom finally gets fisheries policy but laws are outdated

Last Updated on Thursday, 23 October 2014, 21:57 by GxMedia

The 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) now has new fisheries policy, but the fishery laws of most member states are outdated.

After several years of drafting and negotiations, the Common Fisheries Policy was adopted earlier this month at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2014 held in Suriname.

Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism or CRFM, Milton Haughton says the policy contains rules for ensuring that the region’s fish stocks are not over-exploited.

While the Caribbean Fisheries Policy is fairly up to date, the CRFM boss says laws related to fishing in many member-states have to be updated…

Mr. Haughton says the CRFM will need a lot more international support to implement coordinated policies to ensure sustainability and conservation of the fish stocks.

Tens of thousands of mainly poor and marginalized persons of mainly coastal residents are employed by the fishing industry.