ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Field surveyors from fisheries administrations in 10 member countries of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) will participate in a two-day training workshop on data collection techniques beginning here on Thursday.

The workshop will be conducted by the Spanish-firm Tragsatec on behalf of the Government of Spain, in collaboration with the Belize-based CRFM.

“At the conclusion of the workshop, the surveyors will be able to conduct field work on a diagnostic study to determine the poverty levels in fishing communities in selected Caribbean Community (CARICOM)/CRFM countries,” according to a statement from the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat.

It said that the workshop is phase two of the implementation of a study being undertaken by the CRFM towards strengthening coastal zone and community-based fisheries management in CARICOM.

The study, which will be carried out by Tragsatec and the CRFM over an 18-month period, will determine the poverty levels in these communities and the effects on the communities’ quality of life and structures. “This determination will assist in identifying suitable, models for planning and implementing alternative livelihood programmes and to alleviate poverty in fishing communities.”

The study will also identify the demographic, socio-economic, biological and environmental variables that underlie the low standards of living in the fishing communities, and devise means of monitoring and evaluating them to determine the achievements of the poverty alleviation programmes.

CRFM inaugurated in 2003, is “to promote and facilitate the responsible utilization of the region’s fisheries and other aquatic resources for the economic and social benefits of the current and future population of the region”.