From left: Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw; Chief Technical Director, Orville Palmer; and Dr. Gavin Bellamy, Chief Executive Officer, National Fisheries Authority, in attendance at the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism’s  Meeting of Ministers responsible for Fisheries and Blue Economic Growth on IUU Fishing and Organized Crime on Monday, October 4, 2021.

Minister Shaw, in his presentation highlighted key areas in the Jamaican fishing industry, specifically queen conch and spiny lobster that are being impacted by Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

 Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing of Queen Conch has been identified as one of the most significantly affected areas by IUU with an estimated loss of US$284 million over the past 20 years.

This has also resulted in the decline of Jamaica’s queen conch population, which led to a two-year closure of the fishery at Pedro Bank, contributing to annual losses of approximately US$6 million in direct export earnings and loss of jobs for approximately 5,500 Jamaicans.

The disclosure was made Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Hon. Audley Shaw, during his address at the Meeting of Ministers responsible for Fisheries and Blue Economic Growth on IUU Fishing and Organized Crime on Monday October 4, 2021.

Spiny lobsters were also identified by Minister Shaw as another heavily targeted area by foreign poachers. “Spiny lobsters constitute another important export resource for Jamaica, earning some US$6 million annually and directly employing about 4,000 Jamaicans,” he noted.

Minister Shaw cited the harvesting of juvenile and pregnant fish as another critical dimension to the problem, significantly reducing the ability of the spiny lobster population to replenish itself.

“Estimates based on an analysis of the catch of spiny lobsters from illegal foreign fishing vessels apprehended indicate that berried spiny lobsters constitute an average of 10% of their catch,” he said.

IUU fishing and its linkage to organized crimes was also another area of concern raised by Minister Shaw. He noted that the practice “transcends not only direct fishing but fishing-related practices in which illegal and illicit activities, such as human and drug trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion, among others, are surreptitiously carried out under the guise of legitimate fishing operations”. 

“There is no simple, single or short-term solution to IUU fishing as it is not just an issue for the fisheries sector,” stated Minister Shaw. He said that instead, a successful approach would require strategic measures such as holistic and integrated policies linked to the drivers of IUU fishing and bilateral action, particularly by adjacent States, and multilateral action.

The Agriculture and Fisheries Minister also called for greater commitment to and implementation of internationally recognized benchmarks for fisheries management and monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) arrangements as well as a comprehensive strategy of advocacy and diplomacy through the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and the FAO West Central Atlantic Fisheries Commission at the regional level.

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