Montserrat has signed on to the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM).
The agreement formalizes the island’s membership in the 22-year-old institution, inaugurated in Belize City, Belize, in March 2003.
Anguilla, The Bahamas and Dominica joined Montserrat at the momentous signing which was done en bloc at the Sixteenth Special Meeting of the CRFM Ministerial Council, held during the recently concluded Caribbean Week of Agriculture, in Saint Kitts.
Dr. Marc Williams, Executive Director of the CRFM Secretariat, welcomed the decisive move by the 4 Caribbean countries, which have been actively involved in the CRFM, which is an intergovernmental CARICOM institution.
The Honourable John Patrick Osborne, Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Environment, Youth Affairs, and Sports, Montserrat signed the CRFM Agreement on Tuesday, 30 September 2025, on behalf of the Government of Montserrat.
The CRFM’s objectives include the efficient management and sustainable development of marine and other aquatic resources within the jurisdictions of Member States.
The CRFM also promotes and establishes cooperative arrangements among interested States for the efficient management of shared, straddling or highly migratory marine and other aquatic resources.
Furthermore, it provides technical advisory and consultative services to fisheries authorities of its Member States in the development, management and conservation of their marine and other aquatic resources.