Fisheries and Aquaculture take center stage at high-level and technical events during Caribbean Week of Agriculture

The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) is organizing three hybrid sessions to highlight developments within the fisheries and aquaculture industries during this week’s 19th Caribbean Week of Agriculture. This annual gathering, overseen by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, commenced at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort on Monday, September 29, 2025.

Honourable Samal Duggins, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Marine Resources and host of the week-long event, delivered opening remarks emphasizing the importance of agriculture in the region. He was quoted in a CRFM press release, saying: “Our region has not always given agriculture the priority it deserves. Too often, it has been seen as a sector of last resort, rather than being recognized as a pillar of sovereignty and a pillar of growth. For too long, our farmers and our fishers—the true heroes of food security—have carried the heaviest of these burdens with too little recognition and too little support.”

On Tuesday, September 30, 2025, Minister Duggins will preside over the 16th Special Meeting of the CRFM Ministerial Council, which will be chaired by Honourable Kyle Hodge, Anguilla’s Minister of Economic Development, Industry, Commerce, Lands, Planning, Water, and Natural Resources.

The Ministerial Council’s agenda includes discussions on the current state and trends in fisheries and aquaculture production, trade, and employment; strategies to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; implementation of a new grievance redress mechanism for the CRFM; a regional training and capacity assessment supported by the GRÓ-Fisheries Training Programme (FTP), under UNESCO’s auspices; and south-south cooperation initiatives with China.

Additionally, the ministers will receive updates and offer policy guidance on regional efforts to enhance climate resilience and promote blue economic growth. These initiatives include the Global Affairs Canada-funded Sustainable Technologies for Adaptation and Resilience in Fisheries (STAR-Fish) Project; the GEF/CAF/FAO/CRFM BE-CLME+ Project, which aims to advance national blue economy priorities through marine spatial planning in the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem Plus; and the New Zealand Bioeconomy Science Institute’s Plant and Food Research Group/CRFM project on Sargassum products for climate resilience in the Caribbean.

Later on Tuesday, at 1:00 PM, in the Saint Kitts (Plenary) Room at the Marriott, ministers will join stakeholders and partners both in person and online for the final event of the Sargassum Products for Climate Resilience project. This will be a seminar titled, “From Sargassum to Biostimulant: Sowing Change and Harvesting Resilience.”

On Wednesday, October 1, beginning at 1:30 PM in the Dominica Room, the CRFM will collaborate with the Department of Marine Resources and the National Fisherfolk Organization of Saint Kitts and Nevis to host the Caribbean Small-scale Fisheries & Aquaculture Forum.

Both the seminar and the forum will be held in hybrid format, allowing participants to attend either in person or virtually. Registration remains open through the CRFM’s website (crfm.int).

Lastly, through the Canada-funded STAR-Fish initiative, the CRFM will showcase a renewable energy exhibit at the 30th Agri Open Day & Marine Expo, scheduled at the Royal Basseterre Valley National Park, Kim Collins Highway, on Thursday and Friday, October 2 and 3, 2025.