The World Bank has granted just under USD 5 million (EUR 4.1 million) to Jamaica to support a project aimed at helping vulnerable fishing communities.
Jamaica's Minister of Finance and Public Service, Dr. Nigel Clarke, signed the USD 4.8 million (EUR 3.92 million) agreement at the end of March with World Bank Country Manager Galina Sotirova that will provide funding for the “Promoting Community-Based Climate Resilience in the Fisheries Project.”
The project's aim, according to a story carried on the Jamaica Information Service website, is “to strengthen the fisheries policy and regulatory framework for climate resilient fisheries and aquaculture management; build capacity to promote sustainable fisheries management; support fishing and fish farming communities to adopt climate-resilient aquaculture, coastal mari-culture/poly-culture, diversify their livelihoods and raise awareness of climate change impacts on the fisheries sector.”
“The project will also contribute to the objectives of the 2015 National Fisheries and Agriculture Policy, aimed at improving the sustainability of Jamaica's fisheries,” Dr. Clarke said.
Approximately 50,000 Jamaicans work in the fishing industry, the minister noted. “And, as we know, the fishing industry is subject to climate change and that introduces a degree of vulnerability to persons who are engaged in that industry.”
“The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean 2017-2018,” notes that Jamaica's fisheries production has fallen precipitously over the past ten years.
Published jointly by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the report shows that Jamaica's volume of fisheries capture fell from 22,000 metric tons (MT) in 2008 to just over 16,000 MT in 2014. Its aquaculture production likewise saw a slide from 6,500 MT to less than 1,000 MT during the same period. Total fisheries exports in 2014, consisting mainly of spiny lobster and conch, amounted to 833 MT, according to a 2017 report by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries.
