Early warning system for fishers in Eastern Caribbean
Using an application for mobile phones, fishers in St Vincent and the Grenadines are now able to receive early warnings about dangerous weather and sea conditions and are able to share their information about local conditions and missing people.
Called Fisheries Early Warning and Emergency Response (FEWER), the ICT-based early warning system is expected to reduce fisher folks’ vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.
More than 30 male and female fishers were introduced to the new system at a workshop at the Fisheries Division in the Eastern Caribbean island last week Thursday.
Besides training in the use of FEWER, participants also received valuable tips about caring for and using their phones.
“This workshop gave good information and the app is good because it helps pass on information easier to fishers, especially since a lot of persons go to sea and don’t take the time to check on information about the weather conditions,” says Raoul Lewis, a fisherman based in Callaquia, St Vincent.
FEWER has been developed under the Regional Track of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience in the Caribbean (PPCR), with co-implementer the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM). The programme is funded by the Climate Investment Funds through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The St Vincent workshop followed similar activities held in St Lucia and Grenada since the start of this year, as the FEWER is set to be rolled out in four countries – St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Grenada and Dominica.
Kevon Andrews of ICT4Fisheries explained that the workshop was useful not only to the fishers but also to the product developers as it provided additional information which can be incorporated into the system. He added that the training also provided other new information to many fishers.
“For example in Grenada, the fishers did not know there was a toll free number for the Coast Guard and so we were able to share that with them. What they used to do was call the police emergency number and the police would then contact the Coast Guard. We also showed them how they can add a personal contact to the list of emergency numbers you can call toll free and they found that useful,” Andrews said.
There are plans to integrate FEWER into existing national disaster risk management and emergency response frameworks and, as such, the fishers workshop was preceded by a one-day administrators workshop in St Vincent with representatives from relevant organisations including the coast guards, national emergency management organisations, meteorological services, fisheries departments and fishers organisations from St Vincent, St Lucia and Dominica. Regional organisations including the CRFM, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, and the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology were also present at the session.
For Raoul Lewis, the workshop was a good start and he feels that successful use of FEWER needs support and follow-up with the fishers from these agencies: “This training went well and the trainers explained it well. If Fisheries (Division) could have more sessions from now on to refresh the information that would be good. You know, we need reminding, otherwise things will just get back to what it was. We need more training and more reminders.”
Anaitee Mills, a project manager at the Climate Change Division of the IDB, says the development of the early warning system under the PPCR demonstrates that the Caribbean has the innovation needed to help the region build climate resilience.
The PPCR in the Caribbean consists of individual country pilots/projects in six vulnerable countries —(Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines — and a regional track of activities which supports and is supported by the national projects. The regional track is coordinated by the Mona Office for Research and Innovation at the University of The West Indies and is working to build the region’s resilience to climate change and climate variability through research, policy and applied climate change adaptation activities at the country and community levels.