Montserrat began another milestone in its two-year partnership with the Falkland Islands on Monday, with the launch of a week-long workshop and data collection exercise.
Funded by the UK Government’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the workshop aims to identify Montserrat’s environmental assets.
Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture, Daphne Cassell said since the inception of the project in June of 2016, it has been a mutually beneficial partnership. She added that the key deliverable for the week will be a fisheries sampling strategy.
The Ministry of Agriculture and its counterpart SAERI in the Falkland Islands have agreed to transfer skills and knowledge between the small island state. The primary areas of work are information management, marine spatial planning and fisheries management.
Officials at the opening ceremony lauded the work of the fisheries division and the fishers for their work in improving the amount of data being collected to improve management of the marine resources.
Activities for the week include a scoping workshop, sessions on meeting national and international reporting requirements and a collaboration with the GIS department to celebrate Montserrat GIS Day on Wednesday, Nov 16.
