The Caribbean Billfish Management and Conservation Plan

Abstract

This Caribbean Billfish Management and Conservation Plan was created to reverse the trend of declining stocks of billfish species within the Western Central Atlantic Ocean and its adjacent seas, and address unsustainable fishing practices. Its objective is to outline and guide the implementation of a suite of billfish management measures over a five-year period at regional and sub-regional scales to help secure the potential future benefits that can accrue from billfish stocks in the Caribbean. The overarching goal is to improve the management and conservation of billfish stocks. Among other objectives, the plan seeks to improve billfish catch, data collection and reporting; reduce bycatch, discards and overall fishing mortality; improve regional governance and coordination; and enhance the sustainable socio-economic performance of fisheries capturing billfishes in the area. The Members of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), Central America Organization for Fishery and Aquaculture (OSPESCA) and the Caribbean Fisheries Management Council (CFMC) developed this plan together during the period 2015-2018, through the Recreational Fisheries Working Group, and in close collaboration with all key stakeholders in the Consortium on Billfish Management and Conservation (CBMC). The plan recognizes the mandate of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) over billfish stocks, and supports the implementation of the ICCAT recommendations in the region.