White River Fish Sanctuary 5th Anniversary

Mr. Christopher Corbin, Coordinator of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Caribbean Environmental Programme (CEP) – the UN organisation charged with protecting the Caribbean Sea - will be celebrating the milestone achievements of Jamaica’s own White River Fish Sanctuary (WRFS) at Fifth Anniversary event at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 8th February, 2023 at the WRFS offices in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.

Since it was gazetted in 2017, the WRFS has seen a major increase in fish biomass, the establishment of two thriving coral nurseries that grow approximately 2000 corals each year, more than 18 partnerships forged, more than 12 community awareness and coastal clean-up events sponsored. The Sanctuary has a also facilitated three research projects, trained eight scuba divers, and assisted the Marine Police with four arrests due to the patrol enforcement of its wardens – all efforts that are part of its “Protect, Restore, Engage (PRE)” mandate within the Sanctuary’s boundaries that extend from Prospect Plantation in St. Mary to Hermosa Cove in Ocho Rios

At the regional level, UNEP CEP shares these same values and has a shared mandate to protect the wider Caribbean Sea and secure the future of vulnerable coastal and marine ecosystems including endemic plants and animals. Its work is focused under three programmatic areas:

● Assessment and Management of Environment Pollution (AMEP) (including oil spills and land-based pollution)
● Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW)
● Communication, Education, Training and Awareness (CETA)

These are the same pillars that inform and shape the work of the WRFS proving that local, community-based partnership actions are critical to achieve sustainable results that have both local and regional benefits. The WRFS is quite unique in that’s partnerships are a mix of stakeholders from the fishing community, rafters, local business people, the tourism sector and the scientific research community.

The anniversary event will be an opportunity to “big up” the work of the sanctuary wardens and protection officers and to thank all of the many donors, sponsors and volunteers that have contributed to the success of the WRFS’ work thus far. New directions and partnerships for the next five years will be explored as there is still much the sanctuary wants to accomplish. New strategic goals are being planned – such as becoming financially sustainable through income generation activities, increasing patrols, improving the fish marketing environment for the fishers and providing new opportunities for community experiences within the sanctuary.