Grenada to benefit from EU-funded project

By Linda Straker

Grenada is among several Caribbean countries that will benefit from a grant provided to the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) from the European Union to support fisherfolk as part of an effort to improve food security.

CANARI recently received the £1 032 099 grant from the European Union, via its EuropeAid programme, to improve the contribution of the small-scale fisheries sector to food security in the Caribbean. This will be achieved through building the capacity of regional and national fisherfolk organisation networks to participate in fisheries governance and management. 

The four-year project covers fisherfolk working across the Caribbean, including in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. 

A news release from CANARI said that building the capacity of the fisheries sector is critical to address the region’s growing concern with food and nutrition security. “Since 2005, the Caribbean has recorded food import bills of more than £3.5 billion and rising food prices have compounded this challenge,” the release elaborated.

A CANARI release said that the fisheries sector in the CARICOM/CARIFORUM region employs over 182 000 persons, directly or indirectly. These are mostly small-scale fisherfolk from rural communities who lack other income-earning opportunities. The fisheries sector is therefore especially important to these rural communities, which usually exhibit a higher percentage of poverty than the national average. 

Involving small-scale fisherfolk in fisheries management and governance is critical to ensure that fishing methods are sustainable, fisheries livelihoods are protected, and food security and nutrition are improved. 

The specific objectives of the project are to: 

1. Strengthen the regional Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Organisations (CNFO) and its network of national fisherfolk organisations in Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) countries/territories. 

2. Build capacity of regional and national networks of fisherfolk organisations and their individual members to participate in Caribbean fisheries governance and management at the national and regional levels. 

3. Enhance communi-cation within and among networks of fisherfolk organisations for exchange of information, collaboration, and development of consensus on policy for the governance of Caribbean fisheries in relation to food security. 

4. Improve the effectiveness and equity of participation of fisherfolk in decision-making processes in governance of Caribbean fisheries in relation to food security. 

The project is being implemented by CANARI, in partnership with the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) of the University of the West Indies and Panos Caribbean in association with the CNFO and the CRFM.