The “Enhancing capacity for the adoption and implementation of Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) in the shrimp and groundfish fisheries of the North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (EAF4SG),” project in collaboration with the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Continental Shelf Fisheries Working Group (CSWG) will host a capacity building programme and stakeholder consultation in Suriname to improve the capacity of data managers of groundfish stock assessment from 31 March – 4 April 2025.

The programme aims to review and clean groundfish data for Guyana and Suriname, enhance stock assessment knowledge among data managers from Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, and apply data-limited software tools in ‘R’ for stock assessments, focusing on at least one groundfish species per country. It will also improve groundfish data collection methods for Trinidad and Tobago for stock assessment and involve consultations with Suriname’s seabob stakeholders.

It is expected that the programme will result in inter alia:

• Improved stock assessment capacity among data managers from Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, as evidenced by their enhanced knowledge and application of stock assessment methods and data-limited software tools in ‘R’;
• Groundfish data for Guyana and Suriname will be cleaned and standardised for using them in the stock assessment;
• Stock assessment reports will be produced for at least one groundfish species from both Guyana and Suriname; and
• Improved groundfish data collection methods for Trinidad and Tobago, featuring updated protocols to support more accurate stock assessments; and
• Meeting report, which will also include information on the consultation with Suriname’s seabob stakeholders and the updated assessment of the Suriname seabob fishery.

Participants will include representatives from the Fisheries Department of Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago as well as the Seabob Working Group (SWG) of Suriname and other stakeholders.

The EAF4SG project which seeks to enhance the knowledge base and governance frameworks for fisheries management at local, national and sub-regional levels, is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund in the amount of USD 1.7 million, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and executed by the Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA) of The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus. Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago are participating countries of the project which is expected to be implemented over four years.