November 10, 2016

Fellowship to enhance food security, tourism in the Caribbean

UOW maritime experts share knowledge, experience with visiting fisheries officers

Maritime experts from the University of Wollongong (UOW) are helping Caribbean nations to protect fisheries from environmental damage and illegal fishing practices that threaten the region’s food security and industry.

Fifteen fisheries officers from 10 Caribbean nations visited the UOW’s Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) in October as part of a program on Enhancing Fisheries Management Capacity in the Caribbean Region.

The workshop, which offered participants a four-week professional development program at ANCORS, was part of the Australia Awards Fellowships, funded by the Australian Government and hosted by UOW.

Professor Alistair McIlgorm, from ANCORS, said the program was essential in helping manage and protect fisheries in the Caribbean with an eye to links with industry, tourism, and trade.

“The fellowship helped the officers strengthen efforts to uphold and enforce sustainable fisheries regulations and practices within their country and region in the face of a variety of pressures on fisheries and the marine environment,” Professor McIlgorm said.

“Many of the issues faced increasingly involve international trade, seafood fraud and proving the traceability of seafood product to assure consumers they are sourced from legally managed sustainable fishing activities. Illegal fishing is both a national and a regional concern.”

An attendee from the Caribbean nation of Suriname said the regional approach enabled the representatives to look beyond their boundaries.

“In fisheries, you have to have a broader look instead of just what your country is facing. You have to see the issues your region is facing. If you find a problem as already occurred somewhere else in the region, well, you can learn from that.”

As part of the fellowship, the fisheries officers visited the field to see how maritime practices are implemented in Australia. They attended Sydney Fish Market, the largest fish market in the Southern Hemisphere, and saw the tourism and fishing model in action, as more than a million tourists visit the market each year.

Tourism is one of the largest regional industries in the Caribbean and is increasingly linked with seafood and fishing.

They also visited the NSW Marine Park Authority at Jervis Bay and NSW Department of Fisheries at Nowra, where they learnt about fisheries and protected area management

They also explored fisheries and protected area management at the state government level during a visit to the NSW Marine Park Authority at Jervis Bay and NSW Department of Fisheries in Nowra.

An attendee from St Lucia said it provided an insight into the need to balance tourism with fisheries protection.

“With marine parks, we put a lot of emphasis on economic, social and livelihood, because water-based tourism is expanding, so we have to balance that with fisheries. Our economy is driven by tourism and fisheries are small in comparison.”

The four-week program provided a valuable link between ANCORS and the Caribbean nations, and will enable the region to establish greater management and protection of vital fisheries

The four-week program reinforced the relationship between UOW’s maritime experts and the Caribbean nations. It will provide the representatives with an understanding of how to greater manage and protect vital fisheries resources, and maintain strong tourism and industry in the region.

Photo: Fisheries officers from the Caribbean visit Jervis Bay, on the NSW South Coast, during their fellowship.