Workshop Contemplates OECS Ocean Resource Management Policy

9 February 2012: The Secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Commonwealth Secretariat co-hosted a workshop to launch a public dialogue on formulating an OECS common ocean management policy framework. Among other topics, participants identified existing risks and perceived barriers that may prevent OECS members from fully realizing the opportunities that oceans present.

The workshop took place from 8-9 February 2012, in Castries, Saint Lucia, with participation of OECS members – Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts) and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

In considering the way forward toward an OECS policy, workshop participants considered two constituent parts. First, they discussed the critical priorities for, and potential elements of, the policy framework so that it reflects at both regional and national levels related current issues, such as marine transportation tourism and offshore oil and gas exploration, as well as the potential social, economic and environmental benefits from future uses of OECS marine space. The workshop also discussed how an OECS framework might reflect and fit with related global and regional policy instruments, such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Common Fisheries Policy.

Second, they discussed possible institutional arrangements to give effect to the policy framework. Participants noted the need to identify focal points and key agencies, and to consider carefully any OECS role in ocean governance. [OECS Press Release]