On 6 September 2024, Ms. Nerissa Lucky, Technical and Project Coordinator (TPC), REBYC-III CLME+ project, participated in a workshop held by the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries of Trinidad and Tobago in collaboration with Ecolibrium, Inc and Future Fishers.

The workshop was held in at the Toco Regional Complex and included fisher leaders from the northeast coast communities of Trinidad and Tobago (TT).

The objectives of the workshop which was led by Dr. Bryan Wallace of Ecolibrium, Inc sought to:

• Convene stakeholders to collaborate on fishing sustainability in northeast Trinidad
• Share and discuss results from the 2024 trolling trials and net illumination pilot trials and discuss potential activities in next phase of the work (2025 and beyond) to support sustainable fishing activities that reduce bycatch.

The “Strategies, technologies, and social solutions to manage bycatch in tropical Large Marine Ecosystem Fisheries (REBYC-III CLME+)” is a USD5.3 million project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and executed by The University of the West Indies (UWI), Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA).

It is being implemented over a 48-month period in Barbados, Guyana, Suriname, and TT. The objective of the REBYC-III CLME+ project, is to manage bycatch and reduce discards in the Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems (CLME+) thereby promoting sustainable and responsible fisheries that provide economic opportunities while ensuring the conservation of marine living resources, and in doing
so support country implementation of the CLME+ Strategic Action Plan.