Report of the sixth meeting of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) Working Group on Queen conch, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 16 March 2023
Report of the sixth meeting of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) Working Group on Queen conch, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 16 March 2023

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org. [Author] [Author]

Published: 2024-06-21

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13: 9251387842

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The sixth meeting of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) Working Group on Queen conch was held in a hybrid format. The meeting was hosted in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 16 March 2023, but most attendees participated in the meeting remotely. The following members and regional partner organizations participated: Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, United States of America, Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), Centre for the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife for the Wider Caribbean Region (CAR SPAW/SPAW RAC-Guadeloupe), the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (CFMC), Organization for Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Central American Isthmus (OSPESCA), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI), the Regional Committee of Marine Fisheries and Marine Aquaculture of Guadeloupe (CRPMEM for its acronym in French) the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (Belize). Discussions focused on monitoring the implementation of the Regional Queen conch Fisheries Management and Conservation Plan, various Queen conch recommendations and resolutions along with recommendations adopted at the 18th meeting of the Commission in 2022. Participants reviewed the CITES CoP19 decisions and recommendations and discussed the progress of activities as called for in the Work Plan for 2022–2024.

Report of the Third Meeting of the WECAFC Ad Hoc Flyingfish Working Group of the Eastern Caribbean
Report of the Third Meeting of the WECAFC Ad Hoc Flyingfish Working Group of the Eastern Caribbean

Author: WECAFC Ad Hoc Flyingfish Working Group of the Eastern Caribbean. Meeting

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13:

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Part I of this report provides a summary of the proceedings of the Third Meeting of the WECAFC Ad Hoc Flyingfish Working Group of the Eastern Caribbean. Part II gives a management summary and full report of the flyingfish stock assessment undertaken at the meeting, as prepared by the FAO fisheries consultant with contributions, review and approval by the Ad Hoc Flyingfish Working Group. Part III presents national reports detailing the analyses and preparation of national data sets for use in the regional flyingfish stock assessment. Part IV provides the Draft Subregional Fisheries Management Plan for Flyingfish in the Eastern Caribbean amended as agreed at the meeting. The key results of the stock assessment conducted at the meeting are that the regional flyingfish stock is not currently overfished and that overfishing has not occurred in the history of the flyingfish fishery. It was agreed by the working group that there is no immediate action required by management to conserve the stock, unless there is a significant increase in regional flyingfish catches. It was further agreed that a catch trigger point of 5 000 tonnes should be established when action would be taken to ensure the stock does not become overfished. Among the agreed actions that should be taken if catches rise to or above the trigger point, is a freeze on further fishery development until a full scientific reassessment of the stock has been completed. The most significant uncertainty in the current assessment stems from the poor data available on catches and effort. It was agreed that improved data collection and monitoring is essential to ensure sustainable use of this and other fishery resources into the future, and that achieving this improvement should be a priority focus for all members with a flyingfish fishery. It was further agreed that the working group should maintain the electronic database that was assembled at the meeting, ensuring that it always represents the most up-to-date best estimate of flyingfish catch and effort in the subregion to support future reassessments. The Draft Subregional Fisheries Management Plan for Flyingfish in the Eastern Caribbean, prepared intersessionally after the second meeting, was fully reviewed at this meeting and amendments suggested in order to finalize the first draft of the fisheries management plan for presentation to the eastern Caribbean governments. The amended draft is provided here.

Report of the Second Meeting of the Regional Fisheries Data and Statistics Working Group (FDS-WG)
Report of the Second Meeting of the Regional Fisheries Data and Statistics Working Group (FDS-WG)

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2024-01-26

Total Pages: 127

ISBN-13: 9251384142

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The Second Meeting of the Regional Fisheries Data and Statistics Working Group (FDS-WG) was convened online in three (3) sessions with the main session on 12–16 October 2020, extended session on 25–28 May 2021 and conclusion session on 10 March 2022. The Regional FDS-WG is a joint working group of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), and Organization for Fisheries and Aquaculture of Central America (OSPESCA). The second meeting of the FDS-WG contributed to: • review the FDS-WG first meeting intersessional work and develop consensus and identify remaining work needed for technical session topics (vessel mapping, sub area and divisions, list of main and reference species, WECAFC-FIRMS stocks and fisheries inventory, Small-Scale Fisheries Matrix, and Data Collection Reference Framework and standards); • review country updates on national data collection systems, vessel registries, continuing challenges and needs; • identify, prioritize, and develop a criteria list of national countries capacity-building projects; • review the FDS-WG Terms of Reference; and • develop the FDS-WG2 Workplan for 2020–2022, including recommendations in preparation for the extended session, and initiate WG recommendations for the WECAFC Scientific Advisory Group (SAG).

Report of the Fourth Meeting of the WECAFC/CRFM/IFREMER Working Group on the Shrimp and Groundfish of the Northern Brazil-Guianas
Report of the Fourth Meeting of the WECAFC/CRFM/IFREMER Working Group on the Shrimp and Groundfish of the Northern Brazil-Guianas

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-08-01

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13: 9251343934

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The Fourth Meeting of the WECAFC/CRFM/IFREMER Working Group on the Shrimp and Groundfish of the Northern Brazil-Guianas Shelf was held virtually on 18 and 19 November 2020. Among the 39 participants were Working Group Members, national fisheries officers and representatives of government organizations, academia, fishing industry, partner organizations and the FAO. The final draft of the Sub-regional EAF Strategy and Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) for the shrimp and groundfish fisheries of the North Brazil-Guianas Shelf was reviewed. Among the issues discussed were options for the institutional mechanisms, including a technical and a decision-making body, required for implementation of the strategy and FMP. Representatives of Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago presented an overview of the current status and outlook of their respective fisheries and national FMPs. While progress has been made toward management of the shrimp and groundfish fisheries, several challenges were encountered and some stocks continued to be overexploited. Results were presented of the pilot application of the Governance Effectiveness Assessment Framework in fisheries, pollution, and habitats and biodiversity on the North Brazil Shelf. The need for improvement in data collection was highlighted. In addition, the key findings of a decent work assessment of the shrimp and groundfish fisheries in Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago as well as at the regional level were discussed and recommendations presented. A major concern is IUU fishing in the context of human and labour rights violations and undocumented migrant workers. An update of the FIRMS inventories indicated that 29 resource fact sheets and 35 fisheries fact sheets for the WECAFC region have been produced for the reporting period 2016–2020. A call was made for Member States to submit fishery inventory updates. The proposed revised structure of the list of main species for WECAFC as well as the preliminary boundary proposals regarding FAO Fishing area 31 were discussed by participants. An update on vessel mapping for the WECAFC-proposed regional classification of fleet segments was presented. This is based on classifying fishing vessels according to the predominant gear used, to match the diversity of artisanal vessels and gear types that exist in the WECAFC region. The proposed modified structure of the interim Data Collection Reference Framework (iDCRF) and data policy were discussed. Participants reviewed and validated the WECAFC decision support system, which will support decision making in ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF)-ecosystem based management (EBM) in the region. The current status of a

Report of a GCFI Workshop, Best Practices and Trade-offs Between Fishery-dependent and Fishery-independent Sampling in Data-limited Regions
Report of a GCFI Workshop, Best Practices and Trade-offs Between Fishery-dependent and Fishery-independent Sampling in Data-limited Regions

Author: Nancie Cummings

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13:

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"The Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) executed a three-year joint initiative, in partnership with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that included a series of special sessions and workshops to address the best practices and methods to improve data-limited stock assessments of living marine resources in the Gulf of Mexico and larger Caribbean region. This report provides the results from the third GCFI data-limited assessment workshop held at the 68th annual conference of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) in Panama City, Panama during November 9 -13, 2015. Additionally, a GCFI special session, entitled “Strategies for Optimizing Fishery-independent and Fishery-dependent Sampling Collections in Support of Improving Data-limited Stock Assessments in the Wider Caribbean Region” was held where contributors provided presentations on a diverse set of topics relevant to the theme of the three-year joint initiative"--Executive summary. [doi:10.7289/V5/TM-SEFSC-711 (https://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TM-SEFSC-711)]