mar-2018c

10 11 OPENING LINES MONTSERRAT YOUTH LEADINGTHEWAY IN SUSTAINABLE FISHING A teamof four young people onMont- serrat recentlybegan a one year project in sustainable fishing.The project rep- resents a partnership between the gov- ernment of Montserrat,WAITT Institute,a nonprofit institution partneringwith island governments and communities to restore coral reefs and fisheries,and BlueHaloMontserrat,and ismanaged by theYouth and Sports Development Program. The team is comprised of two fishermen,an out- reach officer,and a data collections officer.Together, theyare seeking to propose a newtype of fish trap that includes the traditional waybut adds biodegrad- ablewires and a one-inch gap to themethod. The one-inch gap,together with the biodegradable wires,will allowthe fishes caught inside the trap to escape if the trap drifts,therebypreventing ghost fishing.Ghost fishing occurs when the fishes caught in the traps are not retrieved by the fishers,after an extended period of time,theywill eventuallydie. The project began on February8 andwill be imple- mented over a 12-month period.It is aimed at pro- tecting the island’s fisheries resources while encour- aging youth involvement in the fisheries sector. The ParliamentarySecretarywith responsibility for Youth,Sports and Culture,GregoryWillock,was the brainchild of the project.Willock,who also serves as the coordinator of theYouth and Sports Develop- ment Program,said this project is an excellent op- portunity to bridge the age gap between the aging fishing populationwith the island’s youths. The project’s outreach officer,Dwight Sampson, believes the experimental fish trap project is critical toMontserrat’s youth becoming involved in agricul- ture,especiallyfisheries.He said the project is ideal as it showcases the benefits of fishing as ameans of employment and recreation but doing so in an environ- mentally friendlyway.He promises to use his office to raisemore awareness of fishing by showing themanybenefits that can be derived from a striving fishing sector onMontserrat. According to Sampson,the project is divided into three components,the trap building stagewhich is nearing completion; deploying the traps and data collections stage; and the third and final stage entails analyzing the data and a presentation of the case file.The project is scheduled to be completed bymid-March 2019.Thereafter,a recommendation would bemade based on the findings of the experi- mental fish traps to become law.