St Helena : St Helena - Surgeries for 2020 Fishery
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Public Relations Information Office) 01.12.2009 (Article Archived on 15.12.2009)
Dick Beales is currently on the island for three weeks assisting the Government of St Helena with an analysis of the current status of the fishing industry and the preparation of a strategic vision for the fisheries sector to the year 2020.
Surgeries for 2020 Fishery
Dick Beales is currently on the island for three weeks assisting the Government of St Helena with an analysis of the current status of the fishing industry and the preparation of a strategic vision for the fisheries sector to the year 2020. In undertaking this task he will be having meetings with a wide range of interested and affected parties, including government departments, agencies, the private sector, students, and individuals directly involved with the industry. As he would also like a wider range of individuals to have an opportunity to feed their thoughts into the process, he will be holding public ‘surgeries’ on Wednesday 25 November as follows:
1.30pm – 3.00pm Half Tree Hollow Community Centre
4.00pm – 6.00pm Jamestown Community Centre
Anybody is welcome to turn up for a chat, but if these times are inconvenient, Dick will also be available by appointment at ANRD between 9.00am and 12.00 noon on Friday 27 November (but please phone 4724 before you arrive to see him).
The following are the sort of issues that Dick would like to hear people’s view on, and they are included here to stimulate some discussion:
· In what ways would we like the fisheries sector to look different in 10 years’ time?
· To what extent are any desired changes dependent on air access being provided sometime within the next ten years?
· Can we identify an existing or upcoming focal problem or group of problems that, if not resolved, might prevent the achievement of these desired changes in the sector over these time scales? What are these problems? [NB a ‘problem’ is an existing negative state, not the absence of a solution; eg ‘poachers prevent access to seamounts by local fishermen’ is a problem; ‘lack of availability of a patrol vessel’ is not.]
· To what extent do we believe that the impacts of climate change might affect fishing operations of the composition of fish stocks, their migration routes, and their seasonal availability in the longer term, say 20 to 50 years? Do we have sufficient information on which to form a view?
· If an increase in visitor numbers (whether by air or by sea) were to increase demand for sport/game fishing from purpose-built vessels, to what extent might such a business opportunity attract experienced fishermen away from the commercial fishery and thus have an adverse impact on the local supply of fish?
· Do we have confidence that there will be sufficient interest in, and incentives to attract, motivate and maintain a core group of full-time professional fishermen (and women) and other skilled workers in the sector (eg fish processing and marketing)? Is it likely that this core group will be larger or smaller than at present? To what extent might the fisheries sector provide an attractive career for young people over the 10-year time horizon, and beyond?
· Assuming an increase in visitor numbers, what scope might there be for more small private businesses in the fisheries sector, particularly in fish processing and marketing?
· Do we expect that consumers, both residents and visitors, and those we export our fish products to, will increasingly expect fish to be caught in environmentally sustainable ways, and more willing to try different types of fish and fish products?
· To what extent do we support the principle that inshore fisheries should be managed as one of several uses of the coastal marine environment (eg recreation, biodiversity conservation), within the framework of a wider marine management plan, rather than in isolation?
· To what extent might full-time commercial offshore fishing be socially acceptable to St Helenian fishermen and their families, either as owner/operators, employees, or in joint ventures with overseas partners?
D.G Duncan
Chief Agricultural and Natural Resources Officer
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