 In its commitment to mitigate the effects of climate change and addressing rising costs within the fishing industry, the Department of Fisheries has initiated the development of a new floating aggregating device in collaboration with the Sufra Fishermen's Cooperative and Fisher Folk. This contributes to the ongoing FAD development programme, which aims to maintain 10 strategically positioned fads around the island, offering essential support to the local Fisher Folk. The fads which are anchored to the seafloor using ropes and buoys are designed to attract fish by mimicking natural floating objects like logs and plants, increasing both fishing productivity and the quality and quantity of fish caught, benefiting the fishing industry and the local economy. Parliamentary representative for Sufra Honourable Emma Hippolit expressed her appreciation for the fads, noting their potential to alleviate fishermen's reliance on costly fuel. In looking at analyzing the high price of fuel and everything else, and in our quest to deal with the whole issue of food security, the Cabinet of Ministers took a decision to launch four fads around St. Lucia. So today I want to thank the Honourable Prime Minister for funding this project. I want to thank the Minister of Agriculture, Honourable Prospect for this particular project, and I also want to thank his technical team for this project. Sufra is the first of the 10 fads launched by the Government of St. Lucia. I want to thank the captain and the boat Captain Lolo for facilitating this project. And I also want to thank the fishers of Sufra. I'm yellow, silvestre and his team for working the effort in launching that particular fad. Deputy Chief Fisheries Officer Thomas Nelson encouraged a responsible use of the fads and adherence to sustainable fishing practices. In addition to distributing the fad to the fishermen cooperative, he announced that the Department of Fisheries will continue to provide technical support. This activity today is really a demonstration of the vision of the fisheries policy or set out in the fisheries policy that really seeks to establish strong partnerships with various stakeholders and to increase profitability of fisherfolk. And today really marks that strong partnership because the fad was constructed by the fisherfolk of Sufra. The technical support was provided by the extension officers of the Department of Fisheries and we also collaborated with other boaters from Sufra to be able to deploy the fad successfully and it was indeed a very successful mission thus far and the fisherfolk are going to follow up to ensure that everything is okay and will continue to monitor and maintain the fad. The distribution of fads is among several initiatives being implemented by the Department of Fisheries to promote sustainable fishing practices and safeguard marine ecosystems. With the implementation of fads, increased catch efficiency, reduced operational costs and economic growth are anticipated to benefit the fishing industry and local communities. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anisia Antoine reporting.