It was good to note on Tuesday’s front page that the Nature Foundation is expanding its work with local fishermen through training, catch monitoring, educational materials and advice to government on fisheries’ management. This builds on an incentive programme launched in 2025, which provided artisanal fishers with equipment and services.
A second workshop was completed in August, with five graduating. Like the first batch, they will receive equipment of their choice to support sustainable and safe fishing, including boat pumps, fish finders and boat winches.
The foundation funded educational signs and materials at the Simpson Bay Fish Market over the past year identifying commercially caught and protected species, while multilingual flyers explain fisheries and marine protection policies. Three-dimensional printed gauges for measuring lobster and conch have been distributed free of charge to fishers and vendors.
In September, the organisation worked with the St. Maarten Entrepreneurship Development Center (SEDC) to deliver the Introduction to Sustainable Fishing Level 1 programme. It featured an expert two-night lecture to 20 current and prospective fishers, followed by a session led by an experienced trap fisherman.
Staff also gave a presentation and led a tour during the Dutch Caribbean Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Association (DC-ALFA) conference hosted in St. Maarten last May. The foundation has additionally advised on the use of three floating Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) anchored offshore to attract migratory species.
All of this obviously cannot possibly translate to the country and its tourism economy becoming self-sufficient regarding fish consumption any time soon. What it does mean is that efforts are being put into this aspect of local food production via a traditional livelihood and entrepreneurial activity.
After all, every edible fish caught here is one less that needs to be imported and fresh usually remains best. As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”
