Department of Marine Resources collaborates with OECS Commission in Safety-At-Sea Training

BASSETERRE, St Kitts –The Department of Marine Resources (DMR) partnered with the OECS Commission to facilitate a Safety-At-Sea Training for fishers in both St. Kitts and Nevis as part of the OECS’ BioSPACE project.

In St. Kitts, the training was held on the 16th of August 2023 at the Solid Waste Management Corporation Conference Room while in Nevis, the same session was held on the 17th of August 2023 at the Nevis Disaster Management Conference Room.

The 2-day training was facilitated by Sherwin Julius, captain of Ponteen’s Power Boat Academy and expert within the marine and maritime field and catered to a total of 82 fishers in both St. Kitts and Nevis.

Director of DMR, Randel Thompson, reinforced that the Department as an entity is concerned about the welfare and safety of fishers and other valued marine users and stakeholders, citing the August 13, 2023 incident where four citizens were lost at sea and later recovered.

BioSPACE is a support program that contributes to the sustainable development of Small Island Developing States in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states in addition to supporting efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals 2: Zero Hunger, 13: Climate Action, 14: Life Below Water and 15: Life of Land.

The Department of Environment St. Kitts is the lead implementation partner for the BioSpace project.