Ministers and ministerial representatives of seven regional members of the flying fish sub-committee of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism Secretariat met yesterday at Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre to chart the way forward for the management of the resource.
Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj promised to update local fisheries legislation to provide a framework for managing fish, including the flying fish.
Maharaj said representatives of the seven countries harvesting Eastern Caribbean flying fish met to "review governance and management of issues pertaining to Eastern Caribbean flying fish that require immediate attention and to provide guidance to the participating states, the Caribbean Fisheries Forum and CRFM secretariat on the way forward."
It was the ministerial sub-committee's second meeting on the issue. In his address, Maharaj said: "Here in T&T we are working to establish an appropriate governance framework for the management of the marine fisheries resources underpinned by updated legislation.
"We accept that this has been long in coming. The updated legislation will address the statutory governance obligations providing for some of the very same measures elaborated in the draft management plan for flying fish." The fisheries secretariat was established by treaty signed by Caribbean/Caricom heads of government at the 13th inter-sessional meeting in Belize City 2002.
The flying fish became part of a 14-year maritime dispute between T&T and neighbouring Barbados. It was settled in 2006 through the Permanent Court of Arbitration which fixed the boundary between the two countries. Maharaj added: "The hosting of this meeting is testimony of the importance of the flying fish fishery to T&T and in particular Tobago.
"It is my hope that in the near future it will be possible for us to have meetings of this ministerial committee in Tobago, so that there is a first-hand appreciation of the value of this fishery to the people of Tobago." He said Tobago's flying fish fishery contributes to food security as well as providing a livelihood in a number of ways.