BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – The Belize-based Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) says a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will guide and formalize the cooperation between them.
“For many years, the CRFM and the OECS have collaborated on initiatives to support their respective member states. The informal relationship has worked well for both the CRFM and the OECS, but there is a need to establish official relations,” said CRFM executive director, Dr. Marc Williams.
“As a result, the signing of the MoU will initiate a collaboration that will guide and formalize cooperation between the CRFM and the OECS for the execution of related and relevant activities in specific areas of fisheries-related matters,” said Williams, who signed the accord with OECS Director General, Dr. Didacus Jules.
Jules said that the MoU, which spans 2025 to 2028, “represents bringing the collaboration between the OECS and the CRFM to a whole new level.
“It covers governance and management of fisheries, providing support for further integration in the Blue Economy sector… building resilience, harmonization of safety at sea programmes, insurance products for fishers, making available information and guidance to support fisheries research, and joint research initiatives, economic development for fisherfolk and communities… focusing on empowerment of youth and women in the fisheries value chain, agriculture and fisheries linkages, trade markets and business development,” he added.
Williams described the MoU as a pivotal instrument for solidifying and strengthening the established relationship between the CRFM and the OECS, eight of whose members, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, are also members of the CRFM.
Meanwhile, the CRFM said that it has also signed an MoU with the University of the West Indies (UWI), which will be executed through the UWI Five Island Campus in Antigua and Barbuda.
Williams, who signed the agreement with Professor Carl Justin Robinson, the Campus Principal, stated that the five-year MoU will establish a mutually beneficial relationship for educational and academic collaboration in areas of mutual interest.
These include the blue economy development, marine spatial planning, climate change adaptation, ecosystem resilience, and resource mobilization.
He noted that the Center of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE), a collaboration between the Antigua and Barbuda government, the UWI, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, will support the CRFM in its efforts to advance blue economy development in the Caribbean, in collaboration with regional and global partners.
CMC/2025
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