 Hello-Hi Agriculture on the Move Agriculture on the move Agriculture on the Move Agriculture on the move agriculture agriculture I like the new brandy Hello again, Zinlusha and welcome to the program agriculture on the move I am Philip Sidney, your host. Today with me is Yihon Edwin, who is our fisheries biologist, attached to the Department of Fisheries, of course, with the Ministry of Agriculture. Welcome to the program, madam. Thank you, and good day to you and your audience. My audience. Nice having you. Nice having you. It's long overdue. I've been hearing in the airways that you're having a program of Fisher's Clinic. A lot of people are asking, what is this? Could you give an idea? Where did this concept, what was it, conceptualized? And what are the objectives? The Fisher's Clinic is not new to the department. We actually conceptualized this concept sometime in 2019, where we executed two clinics, one in castries and another in viewfort. Due to COVID, of course, you would have imagined that mass crowd events were not allowed. And so we were not able to continue and go through the various communities with this clinic. Fortunately, this year, we are able to do this on a scaled down version of the clinic that Dennery Cooperative requested and felt the need, especially given the licensing period is approaching. All vessel licenses expires on the 31st of March, and that gave the Fisher Clinic concept sort of an opening door to use that opportunity to go down into the Dennery community and educate Fishers on the process. Of course, the clinic concept is one of an education drive and awareness drive. We look at all of the components of Fisheries and how we could bring that information to Fishers. But primary focus for this one, as requested by the Dennery Corp, is to do this ahead of the licensing period. So that becomes the focus with the added educational awareness around all of our work program activities. So what are the areas of focus in that? For every clinic, the focus is on the Fisher, wholesome. The Fisher in his everyday expedition, what he catches when he comes back, what happens, as well as his well-being. Past clinics, we've had other partner agencies, such as the Ministry of Health. We've had partner agencies, such as Marine Police, Yamaha, Mercury, and other partners that are integral in the fisheries sector. This time around, we had to keep them out because of COVID, but we're still bringing the educational aspect to Fishers. When you say educational aspect, can you elucidate and give an idea of what areas you think that the Fishers require for their well-being out there? For their well-being, every day they come in with their catch, one of that being the data that is collected. So we get an opportunity to present that data. What do we use the data for? How it helps with decision-making. So you present that to Fishers in a way that they can understand. There are a number of fisheries, such as the lobster, the sea urchin, the sea turtle fishery, and all of these components where there's an open and close. Sometimes the regulations, the compliance that are required, they're not fully aware of why. And so, going out to Fish, you need to understand what's in season, what's out of season. That component is also added. Again, this is not a classroom or teaching concept. It is one where the Fishers come and they can visualize. It's not one with a lot of texts and books and pamphlets. It's an educational, visual, and an interactive session that we have with the Fishers. One-on-one, face-to-face conversations where they could ask their questions and we could inform or indicate to them maybe a concept they may have wrong or something they are doing, efficient practice. Some of them would not go out with the required safety equipment and so this would be on display as well. So the data aspect, what we do with the data, the various fisheries and the fishing practices that they must ensure they continue to add head to because of the regulations that are in place. You talk about the licensing process. What is in place as a prerequisite to get a license or to renew a license? Every fisher must have, well, I say fisher, but it really requires the boat owner to have a sea-worthy vessel. That vessel would be inspected to ensure it meets that requirement. There is also a color coding in terms of what color you could have inside and outside of your vessel. And in addition to that, you must have all of the safety equipment and navigational equipment that are required. In doing so, your boat would be eligible for getting a license for the period, which runs from the 1st of April to the 31st of March every year. Every year. List of equipment, what is it that are required to have? When we speak of safety equipment, we think of the life jacket, your flares, your compass, your oars, radiators, your GPS, all of the equipment that would help to stay you along your course as you do your daily expeditions. But there has been some problems where the sort of short circuit, the system, by on Registration D, they will swap with their brother, Fisher, and bring all the gear, and then they get the license, and then they pass it on to the other brother to come in. Is that something that has been, is done, and how is that rectified? It is a known process, and it is one that Fisher's continue to have, the extension officers, sorry, continue to have dialogue with the Fisher so they understand the importance. It's not a matter of presenting the equipment that are required, but the importance of going out to sea. So even though the form might be complete, the process, the inspection might be complete, and you think you're beating the system, the safety component, at the time you encounter, you're drifting or your vessel encounters difficulty, it all boils down to you and your conscience at that time. And so the department, we continue to have training and interaction with Fisher's, with the cooperatives, where the Fisher's have more daily face-to-face contact to continue to push both and safety and the requirements that are in place. So it's an ongoing process. Like I said, it is known that some of this continues, but our extension officers are professionals and they continue to ensure they execute their duty in accordance with the Fisher's regulations. I know it's a difficult task for you at the department in terms of the effective monitoring of that system, on a daily basis with the Fisher's going out. Who is monitoring them to ensure that the requirements are met? There is no, I wouldn't say that there is a daily police or enforcement or monitoring, but what we do know is that the extension officers are on site, we have our data collectors who would collect the data, and it's just general interaction with the Fisher's. The cooperatives also have a part to play, likewise the Fisher's department, but this is what I would say, you know, your own self-conscious that should allow you to do what is right. We monitor a lot of our Fisher's, persons would call to report incidents where a particular Fisher is out of season, but we do not have the enforcement arm required at the department to ensure we do this daily, but we do our island-wide monitoring, our evaluation, and we continue to go back to the drawing board to see how we can enhance this process. This is done, okay, on a daily basis, right? Yes. They're supposed to be. But in terms of evaluation, after that is done, throughout the year, do you all carry out an evaluation as to the result of that activity to see whether the objectives were met? I would say that this is something that we would have to explore, but once the inspection is done from March, because we would start from the 1st of March to ensure that your license, you know, you have a new license by the time the period ends, and this is an ongoing process, but it is something that we definitely can look into, but it is a one-time annual inspection, and you must have all of the safety equipment to get your vessel license for that year. Yeah, because I'm saying so, the backdrop of the education process should be continuous. Yes. You understand? And I'm not sure whether once a year is sufficient, especially with dealing with stubborn fishers, you know? I'm wondering, if we have it in their faces, in their faces, you know, just maybe, you know, it probably will gain some momentum. It may resonate with them through initiatives such as this one, the Fisher Clinic. Again, we will be reinforcing all of the regulations, the reasons why you need your safety equipment. Again, there will be videos on display, visuals that, you know, persons could really grasp and understand, and in case they forgot, Fisher Clinics, such as this one, will reinforce those key messages and the importance of it. Yeah, because at the end of the day, what I noticed, I mean, just not too long ago, I mean, there's so many fishers missing, you know? And again, I'm sure you all may not know, I mean, whether they had all the equipment. But it's not that day, you know? So that's a problem. Yes. So it still doesn't give you and say, okay, yes, I know you're doing what's right, but are they doing what's right? Yes. Which is sad. Which is sad because there is the pre-seachek requirement before, you know, venturing out, there are the requirements in terms of how much water you would require, how much stores in the event of something, you know, your backup batteries, a small kit in case you have to do repairs. There are a number of initiatives that we've done. We have PSAs that are ongoing. And maybe it's not enough, but I think it's a continuous process. In addition to being licensed, there is a duty refund process. In order to get that duty refund, your vessel must be licensed. So again, there are small incentives for the fisher or that boat owner. And he also and the captain should ensure that the crew is safe for each expedition. Is, does the crew, captain and crew have to be licensed too? There is a registration process. So everyone within the fishing industry must be registered. You can be full-time or part-time. There are persons who come in and out of the fishery, say in the high season, during January, March, persons would sort of gravitate towards fishing. And later in the year, probably in hurricane season, they may gravitate towards construction and vice-versa. So you have this full-time, part-time system that allows for people to register into the system. Okay, so that's, it's an ongoing process. It is an ongoing process. Okay. In terms of that, let's look at the young people coming into the trade. Do you foresee young people coming in into fishing? That question you can answer after the break because we're going into the break now. You're watching agriculture on the move. Stay tuned, don't go away. All boats engaged in fishing must have a license to fish from the Department of Fisheries. As part of the licensing process, a fisheries extension officer must inspect the boat, the fishing gear and the safety equipment. The purpose of a fishing license is to manage the amount of fishing in our waters and avoid overfishing. This will help us continue catching fish. Every year, boat owners or captains must renew their license to fish. A licensed fishing boat must clearly display the J6 number assigned by the Department of Fisheries. That J6 number should be placed on both sides of the bow of the boat. The license sticker given for the current year should be placed on the left or port side of the bow. The boat owner must have permission to use any engine above 125 horsepower. The inside color of the boat must be painted one of the approved colors, signal red or international orange. The boat must have the necessary navigational and safety equipment as required by law. The boat owner must ensure that the captain and crew are registered with the Department of Fisheries. Any change made to your fishing operation must be reported to the Department of Fisheries within seven days. Some changes include the color of the boat, the type and number of fishing gear, the engine size and the name of the boat. The boat owner and captain must comply with all conditions of the fishing license. For more information on obtaining a license to fish, contact the Department of Fisheries at 468-4143. Welcome back to the program, Agriculture on the Move. But this time, his fishery is on the move. With me is Yvonne Edwin, who is our Fisherist Biologist. And we're talking about the Fisherist Clinic, which is the boat's console. But then just before the break, we were looking at young people gravitating to fishing. And we were wondering whether you've seen, you know, that exodus. Because what we have noticed is it has been, it is noticeable in the agricultural sector. We have a number of aged farmers in the 60s and 70s. And we are asking, okay, where are the younger ones to take over? And I'm thinking that is the same formula with fisheries. So where, how do you see this moving? The formula is similar, very similar, in that fishing is a risky job. Persons would tell you that just going out on the fishing expedition daily, the waves, the currents, you know, the risk involved in this field, it's not an attractive one for young persons. Most times, persons that come into the fishery, young persons, it would be their own personal like or them falling into it because a father or uncle or somebody in their family is a fisher. It's very seldom you would find, you know, some odd person not having that sort of a history with the fishing industry. The numbers are still low, but we continue to have initiatives that would help to attract persons into the sector. Let's look at the seasonal fishing of various species. Where we are at now with, what's in season now? Right now, what I could tell you is the lobster season is closed. The sea turtle fishery, the sea urchin fishery, they're all closed. What is open is the conch fishery, the lobby. And of course, there are management measures or regulations and conditions in terms of catching and having those in your possession. So the lobster season closed on the sea urchin fishery, closed on the first of March, just two days ago. And so anyone with lobsters would be required to declare them. Of course, that is a requirement for restaurants and hotels. And the persons would need to ensure that they do not break the law because the law and the regulation in place is very clear. If you have it in your possession, if you have exposed it, you've offered it for sale. Even having a menu with lobster on it whilst the fishery is closed is one that restaurants and food establishments should pay particular attention to because you are in fact advertising it for sale. Between you and me and the doppos, you know for a fact that people are breaking the law. I am not hearing any charges, any arrests. If it is done, this is not brought to the public. But is there any arrest being made for people breaking the law? There are instances, there are cases, there are still active cases that are open that are before the courts. And I think it's a point noted that maybe the department, we could start showcasing or highlighting those. So members of the public really get to understand those enforcement and penalties that persons get to pay when they are found with any fishery or anything that is outside of the regulations. So I think it's a point to note and maybe something that we could explore, present into the public the number of cases and the number of infringements as it relates to the Fisheries Act. I totally agree. Sea urchin is a no-no. Sea urchin is a no-no because there must be an assessment done before. Sea urchins, they have a short lifespan of three years and if or during the assessment, if there is not sufficient or the abundance of each year class, that fishery cannot be opened. And this is a very particular one because like I said, they have a three-year lifespan. This is declared maybe for a certain number of days and not an extended number of months. So the period could be anything from three days, maybe a day or seven days. It varies based on the abundance that is available. If I may tell you Yvonne, I wouldn't say the place I've been through recently and so piles and piles of shells of sea urchin. Would you agree or you would not agree? Well, I did not see the shells and so I can't agree but only take your reports and look into it. So I mean we do get reports of several instances of either shells, sale, persons having and we would ensure that we go out to deal with the matter. But I think like we've already stated, this is something that we should really present to the public so they understand the implications. Because I'm thinking, I mean, one of the things you can, I think you all can do because the same way I was able to bounce up on it, you all could go there, take photos, and actually educate the public, you know? But we work alongside with the Predia Lasseni unit. So there would be that enforcement to the department because a lot of our work spirals around so much work program activities, ensuring things are done as they should be. And so we need that additional enforcement. So we work alongside Predia Lasseni and the community police and we build our partnership through those for our monitoring and our enforcement. But again, the clinic, the deficient's clinic is where we bring that information, we get people to understand the work that we do and again, refresh them into what the regulations state for each fishery. We get to have that conversation and the Fisher Clinic is geared towards doing just that, speaking to fishers directly and answering the questions they may have. Do you all find at the clinic when questions like this come to the fore? You get some resistance and they question it and they will leave there, still not armed with information, sufficient information, educationally when they still go back into the same thing? We would have to assess and of course, definitely at this clinic we will be evaluating the person to visit. We would be monitoring, actually doing out a survey so we get to understand what happened at the clinic, interview person who are coming in, getting an opportunity to find out from them what they would require from the department, what they think is lacking, areas of improvement. Again, this provides an opportunity for us to evaluate ourselves as a department so fishers could provide their feedback and we too can monitor the interaction so we could guide our way forward, especially in 2022, coming from a COVID period. Because I would ask the question, for example, when last was the CO2 season open? Yes. Okay, how long ago was this? The last fishery would have been, we're in 2022, maybe in 2019 or 2020. But I'm thinking 2019, that the COVID seem to have just distort your memory quite a bit, but it would have been two, three years ago, the last time the fishery was open. And the process is you all go out there and you'll dive and you'll carry out an assessment. We do an assessment to ensure the abundance. Like I said, first, it's a three-year, they have a three-year lifespan and so there are certain indicators we would look for to determine if the fishery should open. There must have sufficient ear classes in order to do so. And that is done around the island? That is done at selected sites. All of our fisheries, we have various ways of monitoring and determining how long or why we should keep a fishery open or not. After that is done, you come out publicly and say, hey, this is the results of our monitoring and this is why we are opening or we're not opening? This would be done through a press release if the fishery is opening or closing and at opportunities such as this to present it to the public. So this is how we would feed or give off results and present to the public at forums like this, to the cooperatives or at events, public events such as this one? The fish aggregating devices that are set up out there. The feedback is, it's working. The feedback also is more is required out there. I remember there was supposed to be a program for establishment of more of those devices on the West Coast. Where is that now? I mean, is it, if it's working well, why there aren't many more out there? There are fads and as you would imagine, each fad, the lifespan could be, it varies. It varies because of the sea conditions. You would understand that it is something that's deployed. It's a device that's out there in the ocean and of course it can require repairs, maintenance or it can get lost. This is an ongoing process with the department. Actually, at the Fishers Clinic, we will be featuring fads. There is currently a fad management plan that should span from 2019 to 2023. There are various objectives outlined in that plan and rules where the commercial fishers would have to ensure that they follow. Persons do go to the fad and damage the fad, take off lights. There's a lot of co-management practices and we need to do this with the cooperatives to ensure that the fads are maintained and if, for example, a light is missing, a line is missing, there is that prepared team or persons of interest to ensure that they could replace those because it cannot be that something the department would police and so that is why the fad management plan was put in place so fishers, cooperatives can collectively do this. Great. There is this gentleman in the library. I don't know if you are aware of it who has this new scientific method, a new fad, right? Which can be controlled via satellites and you also have it on your computer. I don't know if you are aware of it because it was featured at the last fair, knowledge fair, we had just last year at the construction park and I think this is very, very interesting and in terms of lifespan, it's quite durable. I think it is an area that, moving forward, we should be looking at. It's obvious that technology that you would want to have technology as part of any system that you have, your description of it, I am not aware, but I'm sure the extension officer for that area would be aware of that technology or introduction of that technology but it is something that we could look at. I mean in our Southern Fisher Clinics, whether in view photo or library, it's something that we could probably look at to feature and see how cooperatives can partner with this gentleman to find out how they too can benefit from such technology. So I am thinking that this is the step in the right direction because fisheries, you need to evolve with the sector and with what is happening. So if you could monitor your fads from sitting at home on a computer, this is definitely a step forward and something that you could do. Definitely. Okay, so tell us about that activity. It's going to be held when in Denri? The Fisheries Clinic is on Friday, March 4th, and the clinic starts from 1 p.m. We're asking the fishers on the East Coast, fishers within Poale, Miku, Denri, far and wide to visit the clinic. It's an opportunity for you to understand the licensing and registration process, the management measures that are in place for the various fisheries. It's your opportunity to interact with the fisheries officer. We'll have a full slate of team members on hand to ask questions. And like I indicated, this is going to be a visual where you see, you learn, and you also get a chance to communicate and provide us with your own evaluations of how we are doing as a department. Is it for fishers and not for potential fishers too? The clinic is for everyone. The target, yes, is fishers and members of the cooperative along the Denri area, but it is a public event. We are encouraging students, members of the public. You know, Denri is a community that really comes alive on a Friday afternoon or any afternoon, for the matter of fact, anywhere from 2 p.m. And so we capitalize on that opportunity to do a three-four-hour clinic where we get the bulk of persons. Where exactly is it going to be held? It's on the Denri fishing ground, on the Daito, the tent will be set up there, and we have our education booths and a full slate of fisheries officers to answer your questions. If you want any final words? My final words is see you at the clinic and we are going to continue the drive depending on how COVID takes us. But the plan is to go into other communities but come out to the Denri clinic and we will see you there. Thank you everyone for being here. It was very exciting having that discussion and I hope St. Lucian's potential fishers will gravitate to this, especially in the Denri area. Thank you again for being here. You've been watching our Recultures Slash Fisheries on the move. Thank you for viewing the program. Of course, Yvonne Edwin, my guest. Our Recultures are a business. Eat fresh. St. Lucian's best. I'm Philip Sidney. Goodbye. Thank you.