Small-Scale Fisheries in Haiti: Synthesis of the IRD Collective Scientific Expertise

This 250-page volume is the synthesis and the recommendations of the collective scientific expertise (ESCI) on small-scale fisheries that the French research institute IRD carried out at the request of Haiti's Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), under the direction of Gilbert David. The ministry asked IRD for the expertise at the end of 2017. A workshop in Port-au-Prince from January 16 to 18, 2018 set the scope, and 17 experts answered 21 questions grouped in seven thematic axes. The experts' full texts are in the companion volume La pêche artisanale en Haïti: contributions intégrales. The two volumes belong together. The English translation of the synthesis is not in this file.

Part one describes the coast and the sea, the habitats (coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves), marine biodiversity, the species of fishing interest, fishers and their trades, and fishing effort. Part two covers integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, ecological intensification (artificial habitats, marine protected areas and anchored fish aggregating devices) and fisheries governance. Part three covers product quality and ecotoxicological risk, the supply chain from landing to retail, and trade. Field surveys took place in the Sud and Sud-Est departments, in Chardonnières, Bainet and the Aquin area.

The introduction states that national production for local consumption covered only 36 to 43.5 percent of seafood demand in 2012-2015, with imports making up the rest, and that coastal fishing is considered overexploited. The conclusion sees little room for growth in coastal fishing and points to ecological intensification, integrated multi-trophic aquaculture and offshore fishing. Part four sets out 11 series of recommendations with 52 sub-recommendations: participatory governance and an update of the obsolete fisheries law of 1978; better knowledge of habitats and species; a fisheries information system and an observatory; regulation of fishing effort; training, including a proposed school of the sea; artificial habitats at three pilot sites in the south; a network of marine protected areas; fish aggregating devices and deep demersal fishing; pond aquaculture on mangrove tannes (salt flats) in the Aquin region; distribution and marketing; and health. The authors state that success depends on political stability and stronger state capacity.