Weak policy and legislation, Limited administration capacity & weak monitoring, Limited collaboration and information management
Unsustainable fishing practices, Illegal fishing, Seismic surveys, Invasive species, Habitat loss and destruction
Importance of fishing, Limited fisher engagement, Low fishers and consumers awareness, Under-involvement of women and youth, Impact of crime and external threats
Poor facility management, Limited access to cold storage and ice, Vendor control over fish price, Cost of equipment, Cost of fuel, Cost - climate events and crime
Weak purpose and direction, Undefine role in facility management, Traditional role of the fishers, Access to credit
Trinidad and Tobago has a responsibility to effectively manage its fisheries resource having ratified or acceded to several international treaties related to fisheries governance. These include:
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982;
United Nations Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (the 1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement or UNFSA);
The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora since 1984; and
The Convention on Biological Diversity since 1996.
Each treaty contains a range of obligations which are required to be implemented by the country.
Government capacity
The central management challenge identified during the research was the absence of an approved and updated fisheries policy: the policy currently in use is dated 1994. This policy does not adequately treat with contemporary issues and thereby contributes to a lack of continuity and the lack of institutional strength. At present, the emphases of policy directives change with the rotation of ministers and governments. Leadership and clear direction are also absent from the non-government and private sector. The vacuum of leadership direction in both the private and public sectors leads to a lack of coordination in the management of marine resources and opens gaps in the sector that facilitate resource misuse, over-exploitation and mismanagement.
The Fisheries Division is the lead agency charged with the responsibility to sustainably manage the fisheries resource. The Fisheries Division, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, is operating with current legislation enacted in 1916. The Division is constrained by the existing legislation that facilitates open access to the marine and coastal resources. This means that anyone or a number of persons can become a fisher.
Another issue cited as an obstacle by all the interviewees, regardless of whether they were NGOs, government representatives, or academics, as well as some of the fishers themselves, was that the value (and presumably the timing) of releases negatively affects the ability of the Fisheries Division to attract, retain and develop the right staff over time. Consequently, the core staff at Fishers Division is small, while the majority of the rest of the staff is contractual and transient.
This has affected the Fisheries Division\\u2019s ability to respond to the challenges of the sector. Some of the examples cited are listed below:
inordinately long periods of time are spent to produce new legislation;
discussions on facilities (landing sites) have yielded minimal results;
there appears to be difficulty striking a balance between development and environmental protection, especially since such a balance requires economic evaluations, high quality even if simple scientific data and analyses of the phenomena, whether anthropogenic, biological and environmental, that affect fisheries.
The Fisheries Division is also challenged by the dichotomy of roles it plays as the regulators. Specifically, it acts, as law enforcer and the establisher of fines and charges while operating as a facilitator who must utilize an ecosystem approach to fisheries, build capacity and collect data. The impact of this division of roles is that fishers appear to generally distrust the Fisheries Division and sometimes believe that the Division has an alternative agenda.
While the Fisheries Division and its Tobago counterpart, the Division of Agriculture, Marine Affairs and the Environment manage the resource extraction, other agencies have critical roles in supporting the fisheries sector. These include:
Training of fishers – Caribbean Fisheries Training and Development Institute (CFTDI)
Health and Sanitation – Ministry of Health, Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division, Ministry of Health
Pollution and contamination -Environmental Management Authority (EMA),
Research – Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA), The University of Trinidad and Tobago and The University of the West Indies (UWI) Trade negotiations – Ministry of Trade
Crime – Ministry of National Security, Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard; Trinidad and Tobago Police Service
Transport – Ministry of Transport, Maritime Services Division
Safety and Cooperatives – Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development (MLSED)
Sector support and planning – Ministry of Planning
Unsustainable fishing Practices
Currently, there are some practices of the fishers and the State which can be considered unsustainable. The fishing community has a long history of poor management of fishing facilities and, in the past, gas stations. On the north and east coasts, most of the fishing facilities that are used are neglected and in poor condition. These facilities and the practice therein cannot facilitate the standards necessary for handling fish as a product for sale. Most, if not all, of these facilities, may not pass a health inspection.
Another unsustainable practice is industrial trawl fishing. Trawl fishers make up about 10% of the fishing sector; they target mainly shrimp and use a very small mesh size for their nets. The industrial trawling is considered a destructive method of fishing as it has a tremendous negative impact, in that it harvests fish at all stages of development, thereby contributing massively to the depletion of the fish stock. In Trinidad and Tobago, over 50 thousand dollars worth of fish is destroyed annually due to trawling. This catch would otherwise benefit small-scale fishers. It is noteworthy that there are countries where industrial trawlers are certified as pertaining to a sustainable fishery by their Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). In such countries, the regulatory requirements focus on the shrimp fishery with a substantial reduction in bycatch with the use of Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRD). At present, the trawl fishery creates an avenue for the poor to access low-value protein food.
Among other unsustainable practices is the tendency of some artisanal fishers to go out and soak their nets overnight, allowing fish captured earlier in the night to stay there for too long a duration, and spoil. Thousands of pounds of fish are destroyed each year by this practice. This situation is made worse through the poor management of the cold chain that is necessary to keep fish fresh and safe for consumption. Further, the use of 3 inches mesh size nets, as opposed to the standard 4 1/4 inches, permitted by the regulations can result in the harvesting of schools of juvenile fish. Another part of the net challenge is the length of the net. Over the years, fishers have tried to compensate for the declining fish stock and increasing cost of boat fuel by installing longer drift nets. In some cases, 3 and 4 miles of green drift nets are used with the hope of catching more fish.
Overharvesting sometimes creates a supply and demand challenge for the fishers. Fishers understand that large catches can result in excess of fish on the market and result in a reduction in the price they can charge for their catch. For instance, in order to get $12.00 a lb for a species, they need to bring in a certain amount of catch. If they bring in 1,000 fishes, they get $2-$4.00 per lb. Hence, the more that is harvested, the lower is the financial return. Extensive fishing becomes the proverbial shooting of oneself in the foot. Thus, maximum benefit cannot be achieved. In such cases, where and when sales of total catch cannot be facilitated, fishers throw the excess into the ocean. This is known as fish dump, and it occurs mostly with the trawl fishing. At times, however, it can also occur with the artisanal fishers. Based on some of the assessment, particularly for the groundfish fishery, some of the shrimp species and some of the groundfish species have shown over-exploitation or at least that they are very close to that stage. This is fuelled by the low barrier to entry in the fishing sector which is part of the 100 year old legislation. This poses the theoretical question: why should the state continue to incentivise (via subsidies) further destruction of the fishery? Interestingly, based on the present study, many fishers are not aware of the subsidies, and some have also claimed that they have neither accessed nor been impacted by them.
Illegal Fishing
Globally fisheries are considered big business. One bluefin tuna can sell for as much as US $2 million on the Japanese market. This means that the potential for illegal fishing is high, especially since Trinidad and Tobago laws are over 100 years old and do not provide for adequate protection of waters and species. Currently, Trinidad and Tobago do not charge stiff penalties to deter illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. There are many long-distance water fleet vessels with sizeable tonnage capacity for fish which operate in Trinidad and Tobago waters. This includes fishing without a licence or out-of-season and, in some cases, featuring the use of illegal fishing gear, disregarding catch quotas or the non-reporting and under-reporting of catch weights and species. IUU fishing seriously undermines efforts to sustainably manage fisheries and contributes to inequality on the basis of global competition and resource availability.
Seismic Surveys
Another critical problem highlighted was seismic surveys. When there are seismic surveys, an entire coastal and or marine area is closed to fishing for periods as long as 2 or 3 months. Fishers are keenly aware that extensive research was done in other parts of the world to show that the fish stock is subject to acoustics damage. As a result of the surveys, fish tend to leave an area and do not return for some 3-5 years. In some areas, they may not return at all. This means that fishers have to go farther out to sea and utilize more fuel to catch fish. If they are located in the middle of the survey area, it may not be cost-efficient to fish at all. This is the main reason why fishers request compensation from energy companies. By contrast, oil and gas rigs often serve as marine oases, especially in tropical oceans, where because of being closed to fishing, they become nutrient-dense, creating a safe space for fish species. With a hard structure like a rig, complete with extra lighting, algae start to grow and attract herbivore fish such as damselfish, tangs, parrotfish etc. Sponges may also flourish and will, in turn, attract butterflyfish, angelfish and other smaller fish, which attract larger fish and predators such as the snappers, groupers and sharks. As a result, an entire ecosystem may be built around rigs. One interviewee referred to rigs as an egg bank where big fishes produce the largest numbers of eggs and spawn. There is a no-fishing zone of .31 miles (500 meters) around the platforms for safety purposes. These new ecosystems produce vast amounts of fish biomass. Fishers also need to stay away from the path of the supply vessels going to these rigs as their nets could be ripped apart.
Invasive Species
Invasive species are a problem because they challenge the working of the ecosystem. One of the main invasive species discussed was the lionfish, which can be found around Trinidad and not just in Tobago as is commonly assumed. Lionfish are generalist predators that are able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and feed along the entire food chain. While the meat of the lionfish can be considered a delicacy, it is not very popular in Trinidad. It is fished mostly in Tobago using pole spear, a type of modified spear gun. It is uncertain whether the fish is easily attracted to baited traps.
The pelagic sargassum affecting Atlantic and Caribbean coasts within the last decade are introducing new invasive plant species to T&T. The seasonal massive amounts may negatively impact reefs and seagrass beds as they block out sunlight contributing to poor water quality and low oxygen conditions. The seaweed also presents challenges to fishers as it may entangle engine propellers, fill fishing nets, and release noxious fumes as it decomposes along the shoreline.
Some rural communities are heavily dependent on fishing to sustain local economics. Rural areas such as Matelot and Blanchisseuse depend on the fishing efforts to maintain economic activity. Fishing is also important to many rural communities both as an economic contributor and through serving as an important food source. Despite this fact, for many inhabitants in the targeted coastal communities, fishing is considered an option for the poor and a lowly activity. It is often viewed as a lonely job for people who are a societal failure. Respondents feel the perception is that people who enter fishing do so because they have nothing else to do and believe that the people who become involved in that career path are unable to do anything else. Interestingly, this image contrasts with the image that fishers may have of themselves as several of the fishers expressed that they chose fishing because of the enjoyment it gives, its earning potential and the level of freedom it affords. Additionally, some of the fishers considered themselves to have various other skills, abilities and opportunities ranging from farm management, small scale agriculture, general construction, specialist construction, and transport.
Nevertheless, the perception of the community and by extension, the public, is important as it reveals that they do not fully understand the real value and concept of the fishing industry. It appears that they do not recognise the value of fishing as a profession. Fishing can be seen as a career and an honest way to make a living while making food available. Some stakeholders believe you could make more money than many other jobs that need higher qualification. While, as a fisher one does not need a formal qualification, a great deal of practical experience, specific knowledge and skill are required. These include skills in mechanics and engine repair, fish species, net repair and fish pot construction, understanding of weather patterns, geography and navigation and business, to name a few. Still, schools in rural areas and coastal areas do not promote the value or importance of fishing mainly because of the limited understanding of the sector or the problems facing the industry. There is also no complete or structured training to assist fishers in treating fishing as a business.
Training and the transfer of knowledge
There is also a dearth of knowledge on official fishing regulations and expectations among both fishers and consumers of fish alike. For instance, fishers and consumers tend not to be aware of fishing regulations and catch size limits. Many are not aware that certain species under 12 and 8 inches catch size limits should not be harvested or sold. Public information and news about fishing incidents are too complicated to disaggregate. Sometimes consumers are not able to dissect the many pieces of conflicting information found in the public domain. One of the most challenging concerns is the issue of dead fish in the Gulf of Paria. For example, dead fish could mean either a fish kill or a fish dump, but confusion over which is which can affect fish sales.
Crime and delinquency
Crime, including piracy, is another problem raised by stakeholders. The industry has been negatively affected by crime. Many fishers have experienced the loss of engines and boats on the high seas and theft of engines in various landing sites. In more extreme cases, fishers have lost their lives. Fishers indicated that the loss of engines and boats is most often related to illicit drug trafficking and that most engines are traded in other countries for other engines. This makes asset-recovery difficult. The response by the national protective service is not always forthcoming, and the perception is that they do not treat these issues as a priority. In some cases, there is the assumption that some of those directly affected were somehow complicit in the illegal activity.
Sources of unity and disunity among fishers
Confronting common challenges and existing on a perceptual societal fringe, there is a general sense of comradery among fishers. They understand what it is to fish and the challenges they experience, both financial and non-pecuniary. This is coupled with a sense of pride in fishing. Fishers noted that they do not have to answer to anyone, that they love going to fish, that they chose fishing, and that it is for them a tradition handed down from one generation to the next. They rely on one another for support and protection, especially in cases of emergencies. Among the common challenges and emergencies that fishers cited is the loss of equipment. This also applies when fishers find themselves in the paths of the large vessels used to supply rigs. Fishers are helpless when this happens as they feel alone and not familiar with how to seek redress. This common sense of helplessness can contribute to a sense of unity.
Despite the general sense of comradery among fishers, there are moments of conflict among them. These disagreements range from personal disputes between fishers to more professional concerns regarding the use of fishing gear: Toco fishers do not like pot fishing in their territory, or artisanal fishers think the trawlers are destroying their livelihoods. To illustrate this point, the fishers cited an example: if a boat is in distress on a shoreline at a landing site, some fishers will stand by and watch the boat get damaged and do nothing. Conflict may also stem from a lack of understanding among each other or it may be intergenerational, where youths and older fishers fail to see eye-to-eye.
However, in the presence of external threats, fishers become stronger and more united. One of the most common examples is the announcements of seismic surveys. Fishers will band together on this issue to advocate for compensation in order to stay away from the area proposed for the duration of the survey. Another example of fishers achieving collective action within the landing sites is when there is an extreme weather event that caused the destruction of fishing equipment. Also, the rise in fuel cost can be one of those factors. So, unity is contingent on the potential for payoffs at the end.
Attitudes, political inclusion and influence
The attitude of fishers is worthy of special mention. Fishers are generally characterized as having a doh-care attitude. The average fisher is not focused on anything beyond fishing or on matters that directly affect the industry. He comes on the bay, he outfits his boat, and he goes to sea. He is not concerned about much else so that he doesn’t give thought to things that could impact his business in the future. For example, there are moves afoot to amend fishing legislation, and some local fishers are disinterested. When the bill becomes law, and there are some aspects of zoning, gear control and other issues, there is a sudden escalation of interest as he becomes concerned about how this will impact his ability to fish. Regardless, historically there has not been a high level of advocacy arising from fishers: once the sea is accessible, and fish can be caught and sold, most of them are comfortable. Respondents surmise that this is how rural communities operate in Trinidad, believing that things will not change. Additionally, they may feel detached from the ability to influence.
Youth in fishing
At some landing sites, youths may be seen as both a challenge and an asset. On the one hand, a few youth steal fuel and traps, engage in violence and sometimes smoke marijuana with older fishers at the fishing facility. On the other hand, they are often helpful in removing boats that are in danger, go out to sea with the fishers and support in other ways. Older fishers tend not to want to report delinquent youth as they have no one else to contribute and assist them. It is believed that many parents discourage them away from fishing. Nevertheless, some youths in Grande Riviere and Toco are very progressive: they invest in fishing equipment and becoming entrepreneurs within the industry. They are also taking a leadership role in mobilising the other fishers by improving the primary fishing organisations. As stated in the section on conflict and unity, disputes also arise from a lack of intergenerational understanding where youths and older fishers fail to see eye-to-eye. Invariably, the young collective is dominated by males, which is in keeping with the tradition of the fishing culture.
Gender within the fishing industry
By and large, fishing is a male-dominated industry. This has been the case for a number of sociological reasons which have been posited the world over. These include but are not limited to gender roles associated with family structure, child-rearing “downtime” tradition, the need for physical strength and discrimination. Yet, respondents have observed an increase in the number of women entrepreneurs in fishing. On the southeast coast, there has been a noticeable increase in women owning and managing boats. It was also noted that women sometimes interface with vendors for price negotiation and exercise some influence in determining fishing times etc. Some of these women will go out to fish with employees or their spouse. In prior times, women role in fishing would have been more limited to processing fish and in providing general and less direct support.
Over time, the cost of fishing is rising while the return from the activity falls. Therefore, to make the same amount of money as in previous years, fishers must spend more and go out farther to sea to catch fish; this contributes to the erosion of profits. Nevertheless, fishing continues to be a worthwhile endeavour for both financial and non-financial reasons. The interviewed fishers affirmed that they are well able to take care of their families and in some cases, earn more than family members who are in government or private jobs.
They also reported a high level of job satisfaction and a general sense of fulfilment in life compared to peers from secondary school who are in other professions. It appears that job satisfaction may be high in spite of the difficulties faced by the fishers with regard to the rising cost of operations.
According to respondents, the rising cost of operations is attributable to several factors. For ease of understanding, they have been grouped by the researchers into broad economic development, climate events and social impacts.
Broad economic developments
Broad economic developments refer to the price of inputs such as fuel, equipment such as GPS and fish finders, cold storage and logistics, and the cost of maintenance and repairs. The cost of the boat itself was also referenced, and it was clearly stated that the majority of fishers, and few can afford to own a boat. The fact that only some fishers own their boats means that when they access credit, they do so at non-specialist institutions such as commercial banks and Island Finance. These are more costly than a specialist lending institution like the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) or National Entrepreneurship Development Company Limited (NEDCO). Therefore, credit as an input itself is costly for the fishers.
Cold storage is an area of special concern to the fishers. There is little or no cold storage available for a highly perishable commodity. Therefore, once landed, the fishers are eager to get the catch off of their hands. The fish are sold to vendors who know that they are in an advantageous position given that the fishers cannot sustain high prices for long periods of time, for fear of the catch spoiling. Vendors are therefore in an exploitative position, and are able to bargain for very low prices. For the purpose of this study, vendors are defined as those people who purchase fish directly from the fishers to resell in other locations or markets.
The vendors are dominant in coastal regions and possess peculiar market power. They are the connection between the fishers and their actual market, and between the rural community and the urban one. They also direct much of the cold chain. In some cases, the vendors actually supply the ice and thereby assume control of a significant part of the transport and logistics chain. According to the interviewees, the prices at which fish are sold at urban markets tend to far exceed the price that fishers sell at in their communities. Nonetheless, while some vendors may engage in predatory behaviour that harms the fishers, some also form amicable, sole purchaser arrangements that work for the fishers. The study found that the vendors are often not from the fishing community (they come from as far as Sangre Grande, Waterloo, Chaguanas and Guayaguayare, among others). This means that the revenue they earn represents a significant leakage from the rural communities. There is no evidence of substantial commercial value-adding activity from the fishers or in their communities that allows the fishers to absorb a greater part of the revenue along the value chain. There was also little evidence of significant price negotiation between the fishers and the vendors.
Generally, items of equipment are not expensive for the fishers; however, since these items are not always or easily available, the effort needed to find and select them (i.e. the associated transaction costs) can be high costs to fishers. These items of equipment include bait and gear (lights, water bottles, water, flares, life vests etc.). Among the more costly items are GPS and fish finders. Artisanal fishers noted that larger boats are desirable for improving the efficiency of fishing expeditions. For the purposes of this document, a boat or pirogue may be considered another element of fishing equipment. The most expensive input in the fishing activity is fuel. One fisher can spend up to TT$100,000 per year in gas. Gas stations are not common in the coastal regions sampled, and the result of this is that gas has to be brought into some area, such as Cumana, and this represents an additional cost to fishers who pay for the transport of gas. Furthermore, the progressive removal of the fuel subsidy has negatively affected fishers and has become a contentious issue that has worsened relationships between fishers and the state. With the general reduction of the fuel subsidy in Trinidad and Tobago over time, fishing expeditions have become increasingly more costly. Combined with this is the fact that fish migration, fish kills, prohibited fishing areas, algal blooms and a declining fish stock have rendered the usual fishing areas less viable, thus fishers must go out farther to sea to catch fish. Since fuel is more expensive, fishers have to counterbalance the need to venture farther out with the natural inclination towards shorter fishing expeditions on more expensive fuel. When fishers face difficult sea conditions, more fuel may be used up and leave a fisher stranded at sea. According to the fishers, no one has taken them into account when removing the subsidy as the only people using regular gas are fishers and two-stroke engine operators. The fishers illustrated that not catching a substantial amount of fish in ten days can easily amount to $6,000 in fuel for one pirogue. It should be noted that the government does offer special subsidies to fishers: these apply to fuel. However, there was a general lack of awareness of the subsidies in effect, and with specific regard to the fuel subsidy, the fishers in the pilot sample did not believe it served to effectively reducing their operating costs.
Climate and environmental events
Climate and environmental events are occurrences related to the weather, climate and biodiversity that are part of a long-term trend and have impacts that are non-specific over a region or territory. Even when anthropogenic in nature, it is usually difficult to claim liability against a specific individual or agency for loss. In the case of the fishing industry for the areas of this pilot study, climate and environmental events include storms, floods, droughts, erratic weather, algal blooms, and changing ocean currents and temperatures. We also considered the impact these events have upon fish spawning grounds, mudflats and mangroves, fish health and fish migration, and, on the human impact side, how these affect the cost of harvesting seafood by fishers.
The science-based researchers highlighted that coral reefs, seagrass beds and other spawning grounds for harvested species are deteriorating or actively being destroyed. Consequently, fish spawning beds and feeding grounds are receding and the average size and quality of the catch is falling. Today, with a 300-pound net covering 1 to 2 miles, a fisher would fetch less fish than with a 25-pound net in previous times. Fishers could not specify the period over which the reduction occurred, but they focused, rather, on how drastic the reduction was. This means that additional effort must be made to catch even reduced quantities of fish. Additionally, regarding the size of fish, over the last 35-40 years, the average size of a caught red snapper has fallen by 10 to 15 cm. This is considered a significant reduction.
Inclement weather, rough seas and storms also impact negatively upon fishing, especially given that there are no good docking harbours in the area. Rough seas and bad weather can be unpredictable, and may lead to the destruction of boats and less time to go out to catch fish. Coastal erosion, which may occur with harsh weather conditions, impacts upon the landing sites, sometimes turning them into rocky places where boats cannot easily dock without danger of significant damage.
Pollution is considered a major factor that can impact the cost of operations by reducing the demand for fish and harming fish health. However, this was not cited as a significant factor by the fishers, despite the fact that they expressed concern about pollution. They did not link it directly to rising costs of fishing. In fact, those interviewed made a point of remarking that nowadays oil spills in their area were well contained and managed; simultaneously, they recognised that oil spills on the other coast could reduce the demand for fish. No direct price impacts were noted in the interviews as this relates to pollution. Non-fisher participants recognised that the fear of purchasing contaminated fish can affect fisher livelihoods.
Interestingly, oil rigs can become oases for fish regrowth and regeneration since they are circumscribed by a 500m no-fishing zone. These become nutrient-rich zones where fish can thrive. However, as they are no-fishing zones, the fishers do not have official access to these and complain that there are sizeable catches in a location that cannot be accessed. It is perceived as a costly inconvenience to the fishers while recognised as a blessing by some non-fisher interviewees.
Social events – crime and delinquency
For the purpose of the present research, social events are restricted to land-based crime, mainly related to the stealing of engines and piracy and their impact upon the cost of fishing operations. The fishers highlighted specific types of crime in their interviews. These include land-based crime and marine crime, engine theft, local and Venezuelan piracy, crime among the youth, theft of gasoline, drug trafficking and narcotics and weapons smuggling. They proposed increasing the level of security to be the main solution but appeared to see this as the responsibility of the government and its agencies. They do, however, impact upon investments in safety, particularly in the open sea, such as in equipment like radios, lights and more powerful engines, all of which were mentioned by the fishers interviewed. There was no evidence that investments in security were referenced in the interviews as being formidable costs to the fishers
Only a handful of primary fishing organisations are captured in the geographic area being studied. These organisations are registered but with few formal systems in place. Overall, their vision and direction are not documented, meetings are not regular, decisions are rarely recorded, and there are no real plans and strategy to bolster funding. For most of the associations, just a few people participate and exhibit leadership. Most fishers are aware of the existence of an association in their region but incentives to participate is low. However, the associations do gain some vibrancy when there is an opportunity to access compensation which can either arise from the energy companies when a fishing area is restricted on account of exploration activities, or from the government when there is an extreme weather event that has destroyed fishing equipment.
According to the interviewees, the main obstacle for the creation of strong organisations is the lack of basic education (encompassing functional literacy), and the inability to formally deal with the human resource that such associations require. By way of explanation, the Fisheries Division noted that their past capacity-building efforts had included the provision of training in secretarial skills, financial planning, business planning and computer literacy, among others. However, according to the interviewees, the training is not making an impact on the fishers and fishing community associations. It is noteworthy that training is often not offered regularly or in recent times. Part of the challenge relates to the fact that the agencies that may offer training to fishers and their association are geographically distant from the trainees as training institutions are not physically located in rural, coastal communities. Most institutions that offer training do so infrequently or at a cost that fishers often find difficult to pay.
Despite the fact that fishing organisations are encouraged to participate in the management of ports, interest and awareness among fishers is weak and, consequently, the involvement of fishing organisations is low. For the most part, the fishers consider their organisations to be defunct, ineffective and inefficient. It should be noted that the lack of strong fishing organisations is not unique to Trinidad and Tobago. One interviewee reported that even in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) fisher organisations tend to convene only when there is a project to be implemented or in the face of some immediate crisis. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that the level of organisational capacity specifically in Barbados is higher than what obtains in Trinidad and Tobago.
According to the interviewees, the general level of the weakness of fisherfolk organisation raises the issue of whether associations are really the best model for organising fishing communities, and whether co-operative businesses which present financial gain as an incentive are more suitable models. Interestingly, the fishers sampled did not recognise funding as an explicit obstacle to organizational capacity and strength. However, they cited the failure of the government to provide usable ports and fishing depots as clear obstacles. The government cited funding as a challenge but did not specifically link it to the provision of facilities for the fishers.
Access to credit
In theory, a wide range of credit services is available to fishers. These include banks, credit unions, specialist lending institutions like the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and National Entrepreneurship Development Company Ltd (NEDCO), for agro-processing, and other lending institutions like Island Finance. Naturally, fishers also have access to informal lending networks of friends and family. Since fishing is often not treated by fishers as a business, they face difficulty accessing credit from banks, specialist lending institutions and credit unions to scale up their operations or for other aspects of life. However, while access to credit was cited as a challenge, there is no evidence that the hurdles are peculiar to fishers as the issue revolves around having access to collateral to securitise their loans. Fishers typically use their boats as collateral, meaning that those without boats face greater challenges accessing credit. Once the applicant is in possession of collateral, loans are granted.
It is interesting to note that fishers prefer generalist lenders such as commercial banks or other lending institutions linked to agriculture or fishing. This means that the loans are for personal ends and not business fishing loans. Access to credit from specialist lenders, such as the ADB was described as since the value of collateral requested was deemed to be too high and because the period between loan application and disbursement was believed to be too long (up to two months). By contrast, a loan could be accessed after 2 to 3 days at a non-specialist lending agency such as a bank or credit union. There was no evidence of high penetration of credit unions in the area studied.
In addition to access to credit, some respondents noted that the deeper issue was one of financial literacy which included the skills required to assess financial decisions. In other words, while access to broad credit from non-specialist lenders might not be a major challenge, what fishers lack is the ability to assess whether they should access credit in the first place, or whether financial needs could be met from better management of existing cash flows, how to manage loan repayment, and how to select the best type of credit to suit their needs. According to this point of view, financial literacy for fishers would be more important than improving fishers access to credit itself. Most fishers appeared to not be included in insurance-based safety nets regardless of whether these were health, life or property insurance.
Future Fishers is a registered non-profit organisation established to improve sustainable use and management of Trinidad and Tobago’s coastal and marine resources, while improving the opportunities for better governance, economic growth and social advancement of the fishing community.
