Work Continuing To Expand Fish Sanctuaries

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, says work will continue this year to expand the fish sanctuaries programme.

He advised that this includes the designation of four additional areas as sanctuaries, including a section of the Pedro Cays off the coast of Clarendon.

Mr. Green was making contribution to the 2021/22 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives recently, under the theme ‘The New FACE of Food’.

He indicated that this year’s programmed engagements are intended to make the sanctuaries more self-sufficient, inclusive of mariculture and polyculture.

Mariculture is a specialised branch of aquaculture (which includes freshwater aquaculture) involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other products in the open ocean of offshore aquaculture, an enclosed section of the ocean, or in tanks, ponds or raceways which are filled with seawater.

Polyculture is a form of agriculture in which more than one species is grown at the same time and place in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems.

“We want them (sanctuaries) to focus on things like sea moss, oysters and we have already secured funding through the World Bank to lead off this project, and we will be specifically targeting women in these communities,” he said.

Fish sanctuaries are no-fishing zones reserved for the reproduction of fish populations.

It is illegal and punishable by law for unauthorised fishing in these demarcated zones.