PARAMARIBO, Suriname (CRFM).– The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) has convened a regional workshop for senior fisheries officers from its 17 member states on applying the value chain approach to maximize fisheries earnings in a week-long event scheduled to run from Monday, July 18, to Friday, July 22, 2016, in Paramaribo, Suriname.

The workshop will be conducted with the assistance of experts from the United Nations University-Fisheries Training Program (UNU-FTP) and other partner universities in Iceland, such as the University of Iceland and the University of Akureyri, which will be sharing their expertise in value chain development in fisheries and aquaculture.

The CRFM is also partnering with the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, to implement the upcoming training.

CRFM executive director, Milton Haughton, noted that the initiative is designed to help key government and private sector representatives who operate small and medium-sized fisheries and aquaculture enterprises to become more efficient through capacity-building.

The CRFM, through this initiative, is also partnering with stakeholders to promote the value chain approach and to maximize the use of this approach to unlock the Caribbean’s full potential.

The CRFM expects that the key actors in the sector who are being targeted will better understand the value chain approach and use it to assess the primary constraints that affect them. They should also be able to identify opportunities for investments and other interventions to generate greater returns for the sector. Ultimately, this initiative aims to improve the overall profitability and sustainability of the industry.

Furthermore, the CRFM will lead and support the development of action plans for member countries, after pilot studies are conducted at selected locations.