Project News 21: Choiseul Fishermen’s Cooperative Society was registered with the US FDA

The situation surrounding the fishing community in Saint Lucia is facing many challenges. Fishing yield is decreasing, and local fish is losing its market competitiveness due to the influx of imported fisheries products. As a result, this poses some challenges to coastal communities that have traditionally relied on fishing as their main source of income.

The Department of Fisheries in Saint Lucia (DoF) and JICA jointly introduced sea-moss farming to Choiseul Fishermen’s Cooperative Society (CFCS) to improve the livelihood of fishers and their community. Around the Choiseul area, there is not much suitable shallow water for sea-moss farming using the traditional bottom monoline method. Furthermore, the Project participants did not have much prior knowledge of sea-moss farming. Therefore, the DoF and JICA introduced a raft farming method which was suitable for the deeper water around Choiseul and provided comprehensive training and assistance to CFCS. This included sea-moss farming skills training, construction and deployment of rafts, and a sea-moss processing area so that the sea-moss farming can become an alternative income source using coastal resources.

The Project supported CFCS not only to produce sea-moss, but also market it, which leads to a reliable income for the community. We supported the CFCS to reach the overseas market to ensure a stable and better income, by registering them with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as a sea-moss exporter.