Fisherfolk leaders in Barbados will meet tomorrow, Thursday, December 12, to discuss and work on a major global study on fisher folk organisations and collective action in small???scale fisheries.
The meeting will take place at the Fisheries Division, Princess Alice Highway, Bridgetown.
The workshop is part of a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) global project linked to implement the international Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries (SSF). Discussion will be in the context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication which will come into being in 2014 upon conclusion of the on-going negotiation of the SSF Guidelines.
The FAO is collecting and sharing information on what factors favour the success and failures of fisherfolk organisations, to implement the SSF Guidelines in ways that support them worldwide.
The Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) at the UWI Cave Hill Campus and the Barbados National Union of Fisherfolk Organisations (BARNUFO) are jointly conducting the study in Barbados, one of the few sites around the world selected for an in-depth case study.
Workshop participants will examine the history of BARNUFO since its formation in 1999 and examine the future of BARNUFO???s role in implementing the SSF Guidelines locally and regionally.
Deficiencies in fisheries policy and management at regional and national levels may hinder effective implementation of the Guidelines.
The workshop is the first of several planned to examine fisheries policies in the Caribbean and build the capacity of fisherfolk organisations to engage policy effectively.
In addition to the FAO project, the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) leads another project with CERMES as a partner to strengthen the Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Organisations (CNFO) of which BARNUFO is a member.
aisha.reid@barbados.gov.bb