The Dominica Fisheries Division is partnering with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) in adapting the regional Moored Fish Aggregating Device (mFAD) management plan to the national level.
This assignment supports the implementation of the recommendation made by the WECAFC mFAD working group to promote the sustainability of fisheries using mFADs in the WECAFC area. This work is supported by the European Union-funded project, “Support to the Secretariat of WECAFC in implementing targeted actions of the 2019-2020 Work Plan on improved regional fisheries governance.”
A consultation was held on Wednesday 14th December 2022 from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Fort Young Hotel.
Minister of State in the ministry of agriculture, Hon. Julian Defoe said at the meeting that Dominica is on the course to develop the fishery sector to the next level.
“From a policy perspective we are well on the course to develop the fishery to another level be it that we have our fishery in small scale but that doesn’t mean that we cannot go up into a type of semi commercial for the time being,” he said
“We’re going in steps we’re not just going to go into into big commercial vessels while our people are not yet prepared so we are preparing our officials to gradually grow so that they can develop our fishery.”
He noted that the government of Dominica has made clear to increase the GDP of agriculture to 700 million by 2030 and the fisheries sector and industry has to play its role towards that contribution.
Defoe said at the moment fishers is way below in 0.5% of GDP and can at least by 2030 go 1%, 1.5% or even 2% which would have been a “mammoth” achievement however to do so, the sector has to control and manage the resources.
“We cannot manage the fish but we can manage the operations and the people who deal with that sector,” the minster expressed.
Defoe stated that FAD fishing being from the mid 90s, is one of the most important fishing technologies which have been introduced to Dominica.
‘Those of you who are there would know that we have tried before and made several attempts toward a management system which I taught us lesson system because we were very new and we were as far as introducing FAD license to fishers.”
He further stated that out at sea, one problem with FAD is the issues of user conflict as there are a lot of fishermen confronting each other at sea. He said some of which are very dangerous, where in the past have been involved with firearms and have ended up into the court system.
“We have other issues such as jurisdiction and ownership of the sea but persons cannot own any portion of the sea even if you have made investments. The solution we have come up with in the past is to deployment of public FADs meaning that they are owned by the state or funded by the state even though they may be managed by a fisher organization, or an association.”
The objective at the meeting was to engage stakeholders in the Dominica FAD fishery in the development of a national FAD management plan; identify and prioritize issues related to FAD management in Dominica; develop a management system for the FAD fishery; and establish a FAD management advisory committee.
