Stretching 200 miles offshore, the Exclusive Economic Zones of most Caribbean nations cover areas of ocean vastly larger than the land masses to which they belong. Despite this, the maritime sector has never had much in the way of encouragement or investment, leaving those who farm or use the sea often feeling neglected when it comes to understanding or decision-making.
Why this should be is worthy of broader debate, but it appears to begin with the unfortunate view in much of the region that fishing is, and always will be destined to be a subsistence or artisanal activity, undertaken by the least organised and poorest in society. This is despite the region being amongst the largest per capita consumers of fish in the world, hundreds of thousands of visitors wanting to eat fish fresh from the seas that they vacation beside, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) having designated the broader region as one of the world’s major fishing grounds.
In the last week, a boost for developing joined-up thinking on this issue has come from a Caribbean nation seemingly among those least likely to recognise the potential that the Caribbean has in the seas that surround it. As a
