KINGSTOWN, St Vincent -- The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), a regional fisheries organization of 17 member states spanning the Caribbean region, concluded its eighth scientific meeting on June 30, 2012, in Kingstown, St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Every year, the CRFM scientific meeting completes evaluations of a number of major fisheries in the region to determine if the natural fish populations remain healthy, and also if and what management controls are required for continued and improved performance of the dependent fishing industries.

Fisheries scientists from 12 CRFM member states took part in this year’s event: Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

In 2012, CRFM’s fisheries scientists evaluated the health and economic performance of Jamaica’s queen conch fishery, as well as the seabob (shrimp) fisheries of Guyana and Suriname. The first steps towards evaluating the health and performance of the reef fisheries of Montserrat and Jamaica, and the Eastern Caribbean blackfin tuna (bonito) fishery, were also completed.

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