On Thursday, January 18, the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM) and the Livingston-based Foundation for Conservation and Eco-Development (FUNDAECO) will be co-hosting a bi-national fisheries forum in Punta Gorda Town. This forum, the first of its kind, will bring together Guatemalan and Belizean fisher folk from the Amatique Bay region in the Gulf of Honduras, the two Fisheries Ministers – Hon. Vildo Marin from Belize and Hon. Erasmo Sanchez from Guatemala, and the Fisheries/UNIPESCA directors.
The goal of the bi-national fisheries forum is to increase bi-national cooperation and coordination between stakeholders and statutory authorities.
The forum will: 1. raise awareness of the state of the shared marine resources of the Amatique Bay; and 2. highlight the opportunities for environmentally sustainable income generation in the fisheries sector.
Through this forum, SATIIM and FUNDAECO hope to generate bi-national political support for the sustainable use and management of the resources of the coastal marine trans-boundary Amatique Bay region.
This forum is made possible through the support of the British Government, the Global Environment Facility Small Grant Program, the United Nations Development Program, and the Eco-Logic Development Fund.