BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC) — A former senior official of the Department of Marine Resources in St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Thomas Marc Xavier Williams, has assumed the position of executive director of the Belize-based Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat.

Williams takes over from Milton Haughton, who retired in December 2024 after having served the CRFM since its inauguration in 2003.

A CRFM statement said that, building upon the foundation established over the past two decades, Williams will now take charge of providing technical, consultative and advisory services to 17 member states in the development, assessment, management, and conservation of marine and other aquatic resources.

He will also be responsible for spearheading bilateral and international engagements on behalf of the region’s fisheries and aquaculture sector.

The CRFM said that he is now in Nice, France, representing the regional agency at the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference, which began on Monday and where he is scheduled to deliver a keynote presentation at a side event to be hosted by the Antigua and Barbuda government on “Blueprints for the Future: Marine Spatial Planning, Financing, Ocean Data Driven Decision Making & Global Cooperation”.

The CRFM said that Williams comes eminently qualified for the new position, having served his country for more than 14 years, and that his breadth of knowledge and experience also reflects his tenure as the 2019-2020 Chair of the Caribbean Fisheries Forum, a CRFM body which determines the technical and scientific work of the Secretariat.

Williams earned his Doctorate of Business Administration Degree from the United States-based William Howard Taft University in 2020 and is also the holder of a Master of Business Administration Degree in Financial Management from City University in Washington.