Up and running! Jamaican Conch Industry gets certified
ABIGAIL BARRETT / Our Today
Jamaica’s conch industry is now more sustainable after receiving the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, under the Compete Caribbean Project.
The certification covers the Industrial Dive Fishery located offshore in the Pedro Bank, the first of its kind for a conch fishery, making Jamaica a forerunner in the world.
Speaking at a ceremony on March 26 at the AC Mariott Hotel in New Kingston, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Floyd Green said it will help validate the Jamaican conch’s sustainability and appeal to environmentally aware customers, “thus expanding our market reach and income-generating potential”.
The minister noted that the certification aligns perfectly with the Government’s Vision 2030 strategic goals in addition to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 14, ‘Life Under Water’, which “seeks to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”.
The landmark certification now advances the Jamaica Queen Conch and came from work done through the Conch Cluster of Jamaica (CCOJ), Jamaica’s first public-private sector wild-caught fishery cluster, established through the Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility, under its ‘Blue Economy Project’.
Minister Green underscored that the Queen Conch fishery is one of Jamaica’s most important commercial fisheries, providing direct employment for an estimated 2,000 persons (fishers and fish processors), and indirectly to about 7,000 persons, and with an average family size of five persons, the multiplier effect of employment in the conch sector, though seasonal, is high.
He also called for continued collaboration to “strengthen our fight” against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fisheries, as the activities have severely affected the industry.
“The international community has to work with us to ensure that when conch is traded it can be traced, and we need our international partners to tighten their systems, so we can put an end to illegal fishing,” he said.
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