On Thursday, July 13th, 2023, local and regional Ministers and delegates convened at the Beachcombers Hotel Conference Room in Villa for the 22nd Eastern Caribbean Ministerial Meeting on Fisheries and Sustainable Use of Living Marine Resources.
Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Japan, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) were all represented.
In his introductory remarks, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and fishing Saboto Caesar emphasized the necessity of insurance in the long-term development of the fishing sector. He also emphasized the importance of having a blue economy investment platform to study all aspects of the blue economy.
The Ministers took advantage of the opportunity to see Rainforest Seafoods Limited’s cutting-edge fish processing facility in Calliaqua.
The construction of two centers in the Eastern Caribbean to continue the critical research of the subregion’s blue economy was agreed upon, and will be established in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda by the end of 2023.