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Values Associated with Reef-Related Fishing in the Caribbean: A Comparative Study of St. Kitts and Nevis, Honduras and Barbados

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Viability and Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries in Latin America and The Caribbean

Part of the book series: MARE Publication Series ((MARE,volume 19))

Abstract

A critical component of any fishery is its economic viability, and understanding the underlying socioeconomic factors that affect fishing activity and profitability allows for more informed management. Nevertheless, data on small-scale fisheries in the Caribbean are limited, potentially inhibiting informed and appropriately scaled policy implementation. In an attempt to better understand the economics of reef-associated fisheries across the Caribbean, interviews were conducted with over 182 commercial reef fishers in three types of communities (heavily dependent on reef fishing, on reef tourism and on both) in each of three contrasting countries (St. Kitts and Nevis, Honduras and Barbados). For each of the nine study sites, estimated annual net revenues from reef-associated fishing ranged from US PPP$0.03–0.95 million. Reef fishing was most profitable in St. Kitts and Nevis, where fishers have access to productive lobster and conch fishing grounds and an export market. In the Bay Islands (Honduras), most reef-related revenues were derived from snapper and grouper fisheries (for export), whereas in Barbados, where these high-value species (conch, lobster, snapper and grouper) are rare, revenues were comparably low. The reef fishery also represented an important social safety net across all communities, providing employment and a potentially critical source of protein to many low-income persons. These results demonstrate the current socioeconomic benefits of reef-associated fishing to coastal communities as well as the diversity of economic values among Caribbean sites. This site diversity highlights the need for fisheries policy and management to be guided by site-specific information rather than generalized assumptions about the industry.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Personal communication (2013); Steve Canty, Fisheries Researcher, Centro de Ecologia Marina, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

  2. 2.

    Annual maintenance costs for net fishing ranged from PPP $908 to $20,104 based on the responses of two fishers in St. Kitts and Nevis and Barbados.

  3. 3.

    Estimates of the number of fishers at each site in St. Kitts and Nevis and in the Bay Islands were validated by key informants . Estimates for numbers of fishers at each site in Barbados are based on the number of fishers interviewed and the number of fishers who were identified in the scoping exercise, but not interviewed. As these values were rough estimates, they were rounded off to the nearest five fishers.

  4. 4.

    Despite the fact that the estimated seine fishing profits were also high, there were very few (or only one) seine fishers at some sites.

  5. 5.

    St. Kitts and Nevis national fisheries database.

  6. 6.

    Personal communication (2012) Dr. Kelvin Daley, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture , Nevis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Wanstead, Barbados

    David A. Gill & Hazel A. Oxenford

  2. Present Address: The Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science and Oceans, George Moore University/Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA

    David A. Gill

  3. Department of Economics and Finance, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA

    Peter W. Schuhmann

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  1. David A. Gill
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  2. Hazel A. Oxenford
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Resources Department, Cinvestav Mérida, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico

    Silvia Salas

  2. Development and Knowledge Sociology-Social Science Department, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany

    María José Barragán-Paladines

  3. Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

    Ratana Chuenpagdee

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Gill, D.A., Oxenford, H.A., Schuhmann, P.W. (2019). Values Associated with Reef-Related Fishing in the Caribbean: A Comparative Study of St. Kitts and Nevis, Honduras and Barbados. In: Salas, S., Barragán-Paladines, M., Chuenpagdee, R. (eds) Viability and Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries in Latin America and The Caribbean. MARE Publication Series, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76078-0_13

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