Final Technical Report part 3 - ACP Fish II

Aquaculture Development Strategy for St. Kitts and Nevis2. Development Strategy 2013-20232.1 Phase 1 (2013-2016): Preparation and introduction toaquacultureAs a Federation of only 50,000 inhabitants, the limited number of staff in marine resources andfisheries (DMR/DF) must be underlined. Governance ambitions in the aquaculture sector’s initialdevelopment phase should reflect this and be realistic.Many of the all-inclusive recommendations in the numerous, dedicated FAO technical papers andguidelines for aquaculture regulations, management and practises have been written forcountries with greater administrative human resources, and, importantly, countries that arealready involved in the aquaculture sector. Consequently, many of these recommendations arenot relevant to SKN at this pre-development stage and should only be adopted or included in thelegislation when the sector has eventually developed and the specific (FAO) recommendationsactually prove relevant.At this stage of development, the Department of Marine Resource’s (DMR) limited humanresources could be much better used if they are focused on how to stimulate development ratherthan how to regulate a sector which has not yet materialised.However, a minimum of regulations and procedures should nonetheless be developed over thefirst years, especially those needed for the farmers and investors to feel that their activities,companies or investments are protected by law. Similarly, rules and regulations pertaining to theapplication procedures should be set out to ensure that the process is transparent.A number of strategic recommendations for Phase 1, i.e. the first four years (2013-2016), are set outhereunder.1.1. Providing an enabling environment for the economic and social developmentof the aquaculture sector• 1.1.1 Develop a streamlined application procedure for granting aquaculture farminglicenses.- Establish a ‘one-stop-shop’ entry point for the application procedure, where applicantspresent their application to only one office, such as the line/resort department(DMR/DF). This department would then be responsible for arranging a ‘star hearing’with all relevant departments and organisations, i.e. coordinating and communicatingall comments to the applicant.- The DMR would provide a detailed description of the information to be included inapplications to make them transparent.- The two islands’ administrations should harmonise the procedures and regulations forland-based farming (sea-based farming is already governed by the federal DMR).Project funded by the European Union A project implemented by pg. 7RTF pg. 158/204