Report of the Seminar on the Role of Community Participation in Integrated Coastal Fisheries Management, Port-of-Spain (Trinidad), 19 August 1993

Coastal zones play a very important role in world development, in fact, these areas are among the fastest growing in terms of both people and economic activities as stated by project co-ordinator for project INT/91/007 in his address to the seminar on the Role of Community Participation in Integrated Coastal Fisheries Management.

The three principal strategy elements identified for the pilot project in the Gulf of Paria included:

• information gathering and research;
• awareness-building; and
• integrated planning, coordination and consultation.

The seminar theme cut across all three strategy elements and rightly placed the communities at the center of our attention as there would be no significant progress in the management of fisheries, the coastal zone or the environment without the active participation of the concerned communities. (author)