National report of Grenada

Roland A. Baldeo
Fisheries Division
St Georges
Grenada
Tel: 473 440 3831
Fax: 473 440 6613
email: [email protected]

Location/Description

Grenada is a tri-island state comprised of Mainland Grenada, and its dependencies Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The Island has an area of 340 km^2, it’s the most southerly of the O.E.C.S chain and is located approximately 12.7 degrees north latitude and 61.40 degrees west longitude.

The island has a coastline of 121 km, a territorial sea of 12 nm, and lies on the edge of the hurricane belt; the hurricane season lasts from June to November. The terrain is volcanic in origin with a central mountain range, with a tropical climate that is tempered by the northeast trade winds. There are six Parishes/Political Divisions and one town on the mainland, and the capital city is St. George’s.

People

As of 1999 the population on the Island was 100,703, which consists of mainly “Black African”, and “East Indian” to a lesser extent. English is the official language and is widely spoken, however, it is not uncommon to hear some French Patois. The level of literacy is 98%

Economy

The economy is agriculture based, however, tourism is the leading foreign exchange earner. Nevertheless, fisheries, textile and light manufacturing contribute quite significantly to foreign exchange earnings.

FISHING FOR LARGE PELAGIC FISH SPECIES

Fishing Fleet Targeting Large Pelagic Fishes

There are four (4) categories of fishing vessels targeting large pelagic species in Grenada. A description of each category and its capability follows:

To the north and south of the Island various species of lobsters, conchs, turtles, and demersal species such as snappers, groupers, and hinds are harvested. Fishers use open pirogues fishing crafts (18-28 ft) to harvest these stocks. However, in the Grenadine Islands (Carriacou and Petite Martinique), larger fishing vessels known as sloop (35-45 feet), and equipped with hand lines are used to harvest the demersal stock. Conch is harvested by hand, lobster is harvested by loop, trap and hand, and turtle is harvested by net.

There are thirty fish landing sites on the mainland and ten in the Grenadines. Of these, seven has fish markets with cold storage facilities and three with ice making plants. Three of these sites have landing jetties and two of the others share space with commercial ports. These facilities are provided and maintained by Government with paid staff. There are sixty private wholesalers/retailers that sell their product locally, which operate out of six of these markets. A fee regime is established for use of these facilities. There are also five exporters/primary processors (one Government owned) with processing plants. They purchase and prepare fish for the export market. A flow chart of fish distribution channel can be found in appendix A. The Fisheries Division, which is under the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry and Fisheries, is responsible for management of the industry.

Data collection system landing coverage

Data is collected in the form of a total sample at the six fish markets situated in each major landing area around the Island. These markets are staffed with Government paid employees, and all fish that pass through the market system is recorded. However, any fish that is landed and does not pass through the market is not recorded. It must be noted that the level of data coverage varies for different fishery. The deep-sea large pelagic and coastal small pelagic has the highest coverage, approximately 80%. This is followed by demersal, approximately 70; then inshore pelagic, approximately 60%; and lastly the shellfish fishery, approximately 25%. There are plans to institute a more structured sampling plan to arrive at a accurate estimate of total landing.

Catch-by-species-by-boat is collected on a daily basis. Effort is also collected as a total sample similar to landings Effort is measured in boat-days due to the multi-gear used in our multi-species fishery

Management practices

Management practices in the Grenada fisheries sector are aimed at controlling competition and conflict among fishers. Efforts are ongoing to introduce the ‘co-management approach’ to certain coastal areas. The introduction of closed seasons for threatened and endangered species, and enforcing size limits for various commercially important fish species are also being practiced as strategies for management of our fisheries resources.

Fisher dependent indicators

Changes in fisher income, access to health care, education and housing are used as indicators of improvement in fisher welfare in the Grenada’s fisheries sector.

THE STATUS OF FISH AGGREGATING DEVICES IN GRENADA

In the early 1990’s, the Fisheries Division deployed two moored, Fish Aggregating Devices. No official data was kept from the production of these FAD, however it was well established that fishers had very good catches during the time the FAD were in position. One FAD built with the assistance of the FAO was anchored in approximately 1200 feet of water on the East Coast of Grenada. Species caught around the FAD include yellowfin tuna, dolphinfish, kingfish, and other small tunas.

In 1998, one bamboo FAD was constructed by the Fisheries Division and deployed about two hundred meters from a fishing beach. Fishers harvested many species of fish around the FAD, however six months after been deployed it was destroyed by a passing boat.

Due to the result of this FAD, two unused wooden fishing boats were anchored in the same position. Today, there are twenty (20) to thirty (30) fishing boats fishing around these two anchored boats and catching mainly black fin tuna and kingfish. The fishers would use live bait stored in a basket on the side of their boats and use this live bait for fishing. There are no other active FAD in Grenada.