The first National Fishermen Conference was held Friday in Purcell so that government officials could hear ideas, suggestions and even criticism from people in the fishing industry, said Ronald Smith-Berkeley, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour.
About 50 people registered for the event, which was held at the Purcell Community Centre.
In addition to the MNRL, the event was hosted by staff of the Conservation and Fisheries Department, who distributed materials about fishing regulations and applications for fishers’ identification cards.
One goal of the conference is to brainstorm about how to increase the fish caught in the territory, which means focusing in part on non-reef fish, such as migratory wahoo or yellowfin tuna, said Kelvin Penn, acting director of the CFD.
“It is probably safe to say that we cannot catch much more reef fish without extensively destroying our reefs,” Mr. Penn said.
He added that the current catch throughout the territory is about 330,000 pounds of fish and lobster annually.
See full coverage in the March 7, 2013 edition.
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