FIRMS-WECAFC Report of the Regional workshop on Recreational Fisheries Statistics in the Caribbean, The Commonwealth of the Bahamas, 20 - 22 June 2017

Abstract

The WECAFC-FIRMS regional workshop on Recreational Fisheries Statistics in the Caribbean was supported by the Caribbean Billfish Project, which is a component of the GEF-funded, World Bank-implemented, Ocean Partnership for Sustainable Fisheries and Biodiversity Conservation Models for Innovation and Reform (ABNJ) Project, and is being executed by the WECAFC Secretariat at the Subregional Office for the Caribbean of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources of the Bahamas Government kindly hosted this workshop, which was held at the Bahamas Agricultural Industrial Corporation (BAIC). There is a need to develop recreational fisheries data collection and fishery statistics capacities in the Caribbean. Improving nations’ abilities to inform the sustainable management of valuable fish stocks, through robust data analyses, will yield socio-economic dividends for current and future citizens. The Caribbean Billfish Project seeks to improve regional recreational fishery data collection and analysis capacities in order to inform the ongoing improvements to the management of billfish and other stocks at national and regional levels. The workshop brought together 38 representatives from 13 Caribbean countries and overseas territories’ fisheries departments, regional fisheries bodies, fisheries technical advisory institutions, non-governmental organizations, various fishery statistics specialists and other relevant stakeholders. Participants’ knowledge of regional fishery data challenges and their capacities to address these challenges effectively were developed over the course of the workshop. Within the Caribbean, recreational fisheries currently represent a largely untapped resource for valuable data capture. This fishery subsector is very capable of providing invaluable data to genuinely inform effective fisheries management. However, national fishery authorities tend to either not recognize the opportunity, or struggle to engage effectively with this fishery sector for data capture. This workshop emphasized the opportunities at hand for citizen science, holistic fisheries data capture and management, and described effective data collection and analysis methodologies from other regions. Participants then prioritized the regional data collection needs collectively, from both recreational and artisanal fleets, and agreed on technicalities for digital data systems applications – including the use of SmartForms, a pilot version of which is expected to be implemented during the Caribbean Billfish Project.