Fisheries Ministers from countries that comprise the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) have announced plans to use multi-trophic aquaculture as a way to help reduce the region’s food import bill by 25 percent by 2025.
Fisheries Ministers from countries that comprise the CRFM recently held their 16th Regular Meeting, with the aim to build resilience and boost sustainable fisheries and aquaculture production, through targeted initiatives aimed at maximising sustainable blue economic growth and improving access to international markets, while tackling the scourge of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and transnational organised crime in the industry.
The Ministerial Council gave the greenlight for the CRFM Secretariat to work with development partners to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer for integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, which enables cost-effective and environmentally friendly expansion of aquaculture, including mariculture.
The United Nations has declared 2022 as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA), to celebrate and improve awareness of the significant role of small-scale fishers. In welcoming the IYAFA celebrations, the Ministers reaffirmed the importance of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture for employment, livelihoods, food security and nutrition, and health and wellbeing of the people of the region and acknowledged the CRFM’s preparation of a series of activities, including a high-level policy dialogue with fishers to mainstream small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in the ongoing blue economy dialogue.