Anguilla 
Antigua and Barbuda 
Grenada 
Bahamas 
Barbados 
Belize 
Dominica 
Guyana 
Haiti 
Jamaica 
Montserrat 
St. Kitts and Nevis 
St. Lucia 
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 
Suriname 
Trinidad and Tobago 
Turks and Caicos 
The Regional Aspect of Fisheries Governance in the Wider Caribbean
Robin Mahon1* and Lucia M. Fanning2
Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, UWI, Cavehill Campus, Barbados1
Marine Affairs Program, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada2
*Corresponding author contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABSTRACT
The Wider Caribbean is the most geopolitically complex region in the world with 45 countries and states in close proximity to each other. Consequently, many fisheries management and development issues are transboundary. Many fisheries species straddle or migrate across national boundaries. These require close cooperation of the relevant countries for effective management. Other issues require close cooperation among countries for effective use of scarce human and financial resources. The institutional arrangements for fisheries are nested with three indigenous organisations covering most countries (CRFM, OECS and OSPESCA). However, major fishing countries such as the USA, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and Cuba are not members of any of these making the role of an umbrella organisation important. FAO WECAFC has played this role in the past. However, there are also transboundary biodiversity and pollution issues that are relevant to fisheries creating the need for engagement with the organisations that are responsible for these aspects as well. In the past 20 years through the GEF funded CLME Initiative significant progress has been made with developing a regional coordination mechanism for ocean affairs in the Wider Caribbean that is expected to provide the means of coordination for the many organisations and countries all of which have fisheries interests of one type or another. The establishment and operation of the coordination mechanism which is also to be funded by the GEF is now the major regional level institutional challenge facing the countries of the region.
HOW TO CITE: Mahon, R., and L. M. Fanning, 2026. The Regional Aspect of Fisheries Governance in the Wider Caribbean. Contribution 2.1, p47-54 IN CRFM, 2026. Volume I: Technical Papers. Presented at the CRFM 20th Anniversary Scientific Conference, 28-31 August 2023. CRFM Special Publication No. 37, CRFM Secretariat https://www.crfm.int/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=899
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