Business View Caribbean - August 2016 19
the best market? What form of product the market
is demanding? Then you work back from the market
to determine what fish you should target and you
structure all of your activities to satisfy that market,”
Haughton recommended.
Some types of non-selective fishing results in a lot
of waste in the fishing industry. Many operations,
such as the shrimping in the southern Caribbean,
will harvest large quantities of non-target species.
Haughton explained that a lot of the non-target spe-
cies or by-catch is discarded, since it is deemed to
have low market value. However, using science,
technology and good marketing these can be con-
verted into useful products.
“I was in El Salvador recently and I was surprised
to see that they were making cookies and meals
for children from flour [derived] from fish that would
normally be discarded,” Haughton revealed. In other
places, fish guts are used to make cosmetics and
pharmaceuticals -- very high end products -- and
increasingly, companies are using fish enzymes to
make creams and lotions.
Haughton said that the CRFM and member states
need to do much to promote the value chain ap-
proach in fisheries and aquaculture. The CRFM in-
tends to provide the institutional support, capacity
building and awareness raising that is needed. In
the months ahead, the CRFM will lead the develop-
ment of more case studies to document success
stories from which the region can learn. These re-
ports would be made available to consumers as well
as private sector stakeholders, who will be key in
driving the process forward.
“They – the private sector—have to be key stake-
holders and partners, and they have to be convinced
that it makes sense,” Haughton said. “There needs
to be a free flow of information from consumers to
harvesters, right through the chain, so people know
what is happening and they can make good deci-
sions. The need for free flow information is an im-
portant part of the transition towards the value chain
approach in the region,” he added.
Haughton urged development partners in the fish-
eries sector, as well as training and research insti-
tutions, fish processing facilities, and government
ministries responsible for fisheries and trade, to
work together to understand the challenges, re-
move the constraints and impediments, and provide
incentives for development of the value chain in the
fisheries sector in the region.
