A Common Fisheries Policy and Regime for CARICOM: A Single Economic Space?

• Author: Barton Scotland
• Pages: 413-420

A COMMON FISHERIES POLIC Y

AND REGIME FOR CARICOM:

A SINGLE ECONOMIC SPACE?

Barton Scotland

28

Introduction

The decision of the Heads of Government

of the Caribbean Community at their

Fourteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting held in

Trinidad and Tobago on February 14-15,

2003, at which they considered and endorsed

a proposal from the Government of Barbados

on the ‘imperative of elaborating a common

regime for f‌ishing in the Caribbean Region’,

represents an advance in the cooperation and

collaboration of CARICOM States in the use

and protection of the marine resources of their

Region.

The Challenges

The Reality

It is recognised that some of the species

of these marine resources are interdependent.

Improper harvesting or over-f‌ishing of any of

such species, or mistreatment of their habitat,

or of the environment in which they thrive,

can cause long-term damage to the species

and consequential loss to the coastal states

and f‌ishing communities which rely on such

species for food and livelihood. Invariably,

those coastal states and f‌ishing communities

which thereby suffer loss are innocent of any

mistreatment of the species or of their habitats.

In addition to that reality, certain living

marine resources which are relied upon for food

and livelihood are highly migratory, straddle

national boundaries, and are also harvested by

f‌ishers other than f‌ishers of the CARICOM

Region, without any benef‌it f‌lowing to States

of the Caribbean or to the Region as a whole.

The Necessity

This reality obliges the benef‌iciaries of

the living marine and aquatic resources of

the Caribbean Region, the coastal States, to

band together – to pool their abilities and

resources, to together more eff‌iciently and

effectively develop, manage, and conserve

the living marine and aquatic resources of

the Caribbean Region. The endorsement by

the Heads of Government of the call for a

Common Fisheries Policy and Regime for

the Caribbean Region is an acknowledgment

by them of the obligations assumed by

Member States under the Revised Treaty of

Chaguaramas as regards the f‌isheries resources

of the Caribbean Region. It represents also, the

response of the governments of the Region to

the requirements for ensuring continuing full

use and enjoyment of those resources for the

benef‌it of their peoples.

The primary necessity is acknowledged to

be that of ensuring, on a sustainable basis, the

development, management and conservation

of the f‌isheries resources in and among

Member States of the Region, to the optimum

benef‌it of the states and their peoples. Such

an objective is best achieved, given the nature

of the resources, through concerted action

by the States of the Region, both by way of

research and development, and through agreed