Case Package Preparation and Fisheries Prosecution Workshop

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Law Enforcement (OLE), together with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI), and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, is hosting a training workshop on combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Caribbean Region November 19-21 in Miami for participants from Barbados, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos Islands. The workshop is the third in a series of trainings held this year.

The main objectives of these Regional IUU Fishing Enforcement workshops are to promote regional collaboration in the Caribbean, provide government fisheries/marine legal and policy advisors and enforcement personnel with a general foundation and understanding of the legal tools available to them to effectively monitor, enforce and successfully prosecute fisheries violations and discuss priority enforcement needs in the Caribbean region. The trainings have focused mainly on two areas: 1) legal and policy issues and 2) enforcement and investigative techniques and procedures.

Based on responses from the feedback surveys from the first two workshops held in in May 2024 in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, participants identified improved coordination with prosecutors and further training in case package management as priority needs across the Caribbean. As a result, the third workshop will focus on Case Package Preparation and Fisheries Prosecutions Workshop, where workshop participants will consist of one prosecutor and one experienced enforcement officer from each country who will collaborate on the training exercises.