Jamaica has taken a major step towards reducing transnational organised crime in the fisheries sector, as well as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, with the regional launch of Blue Justice Caribbean Hub.

Jamaica is the regional Blue Justice Hub for the Caribbean, with the National Fisheries Authority as the focal point.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Floyd Green, who delivered the keynote address during Friday’s (November 17) launch at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston, said the hub is a game-changing asset for the region.

“Our Blue Justice Hub is truly about taking back our oceans. It’s about ensuring that we strategically increase our knowledge-sharing capacity, ensuring that we are collaborating across our regional governments, ensuring that we are sharing the available technologies and innovations by establishing focal points across all our participating countries and utilising digital tools to detect, identify, interdict and prosecute fisheries crimes that take place in our region,” he explained.

Green further mused that the hub will allow the region to have more proficient investigations and a more participatory focus.

He said the hub will operate on the digital platform provided by the Blue Justice community, where Caribbean partners will be able to share, learn and adapt to the changing strategies of perpetrators.

“We will use the digital tools afforded through automatic identification systems, radar and satellite technologies to support a wide array of open-source resources to have us as a region be able to detect and analyse suspicious activities that are in contravention of our various laws,” Green noted.

The Blue Justice Caribbean Hub is supported by the Norwegian Government, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM).

Minister Green said the Government is committed to providing the requisite resources to ensure that the regional hub has what it needs to create impact.

For his part, CRFM executive director Milton Haughton, shared that the increasing threat of fisheries crimes and IUU fishing pose a grave danger to the health of marine ecosystems, jeopardising not only the well-being of fishing and coastal communities and the sustainability of the fishing industry but also the security and the future sustainable development of Caribbean economies.

“The establishment of this hub underscores the regional determination to address these challenges head on with a united front and a comprehensive, coordinated approach,” Haughton said.

The executive director pointed out that through intelligence sharing, knowledge adoption, improved awareness and coordinated law-enforcement efforts, the region will create a “formidable force” against those who seek to exploit Caribbean oceans and its resources unlawfully.

Meanwhile, Senator Matthew Samuda, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and
Job Creation, pointed out that Jamaica’s key economic drivers – tourism, fisheries, shipping and logistics services – are dependent on a healthy ocean.

He argued that initiatives like the Blue Justice Caribbean Hub will make a sustainable ocean economy possible for Jamaica.

“We will continue to work with the National Fisheries Authority to ensure that we meet our protection targets. Jamaica has committed to protecting 30 per cent of its landmass and 30 per cent of its EEZ [Exclusive Economic Zone] by 2030,” said the senator.

According to Samuda, the landmass protection is more than 25 per cent and is projected to be at 40 per cent by 2023, while the EEZ is lagging at 15 per cent.

The minister said that the ocean provides an amazing opportunity, through the right mix of protection, policies, oversight and enforcement, to yield significant economic gains for Jamaica.