GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says fisheries professionals from Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago are participating in a workshop on fisheries statistics and data analysis aimed at enhancing their capacity.
“This training is essential for fisheries officers and extension workers to understand advanced methods used for collecting quality data from the field, particularly from remote or difficult-to-access fishing communities along the coastlines of Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago,” said Dr.Yann Laurent, the head trainer at the FAO.
Laurent said that it’s important to gather information on activities such as catch volumes, frequency, and more, which often occur in isolated communities.
“ This data will help us monitor fishing activities at the country level. By the end of this training, those managing data from landing sites will be able to estimate a country’s official fish population statistics. These estimates will be reliable, timely, and trusted, forming the basis for policy-making, adapting to sector dynamics, supporting other studies, measuring levels of exploitation, and more.”
The FAO said that participants to the workshop, which ends on November 21, are learning theoretical concepts and practical statistical software and sampling techniques, which are cutting edge and which can improve the precision of estimates.
It said with this training, the participants gain insights which they will use to operate digitalized and upgraded data collection system, CALIPSEO.
The FAO said that the training is a vital step toward building a strong foundation for evidence-based fisheries management in these countries.
It said by equipping fisheries professionals with the latest tools and techniques, it supports a sustainable fisheries sector that can contribute to improved food security and better livelihoods for small-scale fishers.
The training is organized by the Fisheries Department of Guyana, the FAO, the University of the West Indies (UWI), and the EU-funded project, FISH4ACP program.
