NASSAU, BAHAMAS, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2013–Fisheries administrations from countries across the Caribbean are being hosted in The Bahamas this week, as a part of a series of discussions which will culminate with a multi-stakeholder dialogue on Friday, to chart future support for the region’s initiatives to alleviate poverty while ensuring the sustainable management and development of shared fisheries resources.

As a part of the week’s activities, the 6th Steering Committee Meeting of the ACP Fish II Programme will be convened under the auspices of CARICOM (the Caribbean Community) at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 24, 2013 at the Beach Tower Hotel, Atlantis, Paradise Island, New Providence.

The choice of The Bahamas to hold this meeting will allow for greater ownership by all permanent members of the Steering, and to decentralize the decision-making process of the programme.

Representatives of the CARICOM Secretariat, the ACP Fish II Programme, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), the Bahamas Fisheries Administration, the European Commission, and the ACP Group of States Secretariat will speak at the opening of Thursday’s Steering Committee meeting.

Caribbean countries have benefited from close to €3 million in program funding since the ACP Fish II Programme began in June 2009. To date, 18 of 32 regional, fisheries and aquaculture projects are completed. The remaining 14 projects are at various levels of development or close to being completed.

The ACP Fish II Programme has provided technical assistance, training and facilitation of workshops or meetings to beneficiary countries.

This 6th Steering Committee meeting has a special meaning for the Programme, since it will provide an opportunity for regional and extra-regional partners to conduct an overall evaluation of the performance of ACP Fish II, and analyze results and outputs achieved to date. More specifically, regional fisheries experts will assess the execution and implementation of the projects which target Caribbean States and Regional Fisheries Bodies, and they will furthermore reflect on the lessons learned throughout the Programme execution.

The ACP Fish II Steering Committee provides direction and validates the overall policy and program. Eight regional economic organizations (REOs) are the permanent members which constitute the Steering Committee: CARICOM,the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the Economic Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS).

“Future support to fisheries sector in the ACP Group” will be the subject of a round table discussion which will be convened at the Atlantis in Nassau on Friday, October 25. At this event, Programme officials will meet with the permanent members of the Steering Committee and local stakeholders to discuss the current situation facing fisheries in the programme regions and to discuss how the ACP Secretariat is positioned to support countries and regions to address priority areas requiring assistance.

Speakers at the round table will include Nisa Surujbally of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat; Milton Haughton of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM); Gustavo Miranda – ACP Fish II Programme Coordinator; Michel Batty of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA); Vivian Iwar of The Economic Community Of West African States / Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (ECOWAS/CEDEAO in French); Maria Louisa Ferreira of Union Économique et Monétaire Ouest-Africaine (UEMOA); Hélène Massan Fiagan and Achilles Bassilekin of the ACP Secretariat; and Aurélien Mofouma of the Communauté Economique des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale (CEEAC).

The Steering Committee meeting and Round Table follow the Fourth and Final ACP Fish II Programme Regional Monitoring Workshop, held since Monday at the same venue to conduct detailed appraisals of past and pending projects.

The ACP Fish II Programme, which is financed by the European Development Fund on behalf of ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of states) countries, endeavours to improve fisheries management in ACP countries to ensure sustainable exploitation of the fisheries resources under the jurisdiction of member countries. The four-and-one-half-year programme concludes next month.

PHOTOS: Regional officials and participating Fisheries Administrations and Organisations in the Caribbean attending the Fourth and Final ACP Fish II Programme Regional Monitoring Workshop, at the Atlantis Resort, on Oct. 21, 2013. (BIS Photo / Derek W. Smith)

Fisheries Policy Expert at the ACP Fish II Coordination Unit in Brussels, Belgium John Purvis (left) speaks with Senior Economist in the Department of Marine Resources and Event Chairman Gregory Bethel at the Fourth and Final ACP Fish II Programme Regional Monitoring Workshop, at the Atlantis Resort, on Oct. 21, 2013.  (BIS Photo / Derek W. Smith)