BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries will be represented at the two- day meeting on transnational organised crime in the global fishing industry.

The March 23 to 24 event, which is being described as the largest global high-level forum, is organised jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the government of Norway .

Government ministers from Jamaica, Montserrat, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis, Barbados, Belize, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and the Turks and Caicos Islands, will address the event.

The Executive Director of the Belize-based Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat, Milton Haughton, and Gavin Bellamy, Chief Executive Officer of the National Fisheries Authority in Jamaica in attendance.

“Countries and communities across the world are dependent on the sea, its resources, and the opportunities it holds for the economy, food and well-being of both people and planet. Fisheries crime undermines the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and poses serious threats to marine ecosystems, economic development, and global food security,” according to a statement issued ahead of the virtual meeting.

It said that with political leaders from over 35 countries and territories from six continents represented, the Blue Justice Conference 2023 is a unique opportunity to accelerate international efforts to strengthen global capacity and inter-agency cooperation for the prevention and law enforcement of fisheries crime and towards the fulfilment of the SDGs.