Find Fisheries expertise in Grenada
- Overview of the industry
- Fishery bodies
Fisheries contribute around 5% to Grenada’s GDP, along with agriculture and forestry (2008). Grenada, composed of three islands has a fairly long coastline of 121 km and an extensive shelf area of 3,100 km2. In 2005, around 2,400 people were directly employed by the industry and about 400 people were employed by the secondary industry.
Like many other Caribbean islands, Grenada is making the transition from a largely artisanal fishing industry to a small-scale commercial industry, although a significant segment of the national fishery remains semi-subsistence and small-scale. The sector is dominated by the marine sub-sector, and the oceanic pelagic fishery is by far the fastest growing accounting for 71% of total annual catch.
The catch profile includes fin tuna, billfishes, and dolphin fish. The demersal fin-fish fishery contributes about 22% of total annual fish catch, while the coastal pelagic fishery, while only contributing about 6% to total annual catch, is an essential livelihood resource for many rural communities who largely catch bigeye scads, rainbow runners, round scads and other carangids, as well as small tunas. The crustacean fishery is very small contributing about 3% to total annual catch consisting mainly of Caribbean spiny lobster, queen conch and sea turtles.
The aquaculture sub-sector, which was introduced in the 90’s, produces tilapia and fresh water prawns but has been discontinued due to limited land space, a lack of an economy of scale and an inability to compete with the traditional capture fisheries.
The Grenada Fisheries Act No. 15 of 1986 obligates the Minister responsible for Fisheries to promote the management and development of the fisheries sector in a sustainable manner. The act and regulation is based on the OECS harmonized legislation.
St. Patrick’s Fishermen’s Cooperative is a major stakeholder in fisheries which purchases fish from member and non-member fishers and sells it wholesale on credit to national fisheries, and has an interest in promoting collective action and community empowerment.
Major companies include the Grenada Southern Fishermen Association Inc. which is an export company serving the needs of the Grenada fishing industry since 1999.
The management and development of fisheries is the responsibility of the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Energy and Public Utilities.