Abstract

Communication for policy engagement and policy change facilitates movement away from command-and-control style fisheries management toward more inclusive governance such as through the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). The development, by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), of a Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) primarily for the CARICOM Caribbean, but possibly with wider membership, may be a step in the evolution of the region’s fisheries management toward more participatory transboundary cooperation. However, since the February 2003 CARICOM Heads of Government meeting that instigated the creation of a CFPR, consensus on some of the more vexing issues within the CFPR draft agreement, such as rights of access to fishing grounds and the establishment of a common fisheries zone, continue to elude the 18-member CRFM. This paper examines how mis-communication during and between meetings on CFPR issues; inconsistent participation by country or agency representatives; a lack of shared understanding of key concepts; and inadequate organisational memory constrained consensus building for a CFPR agreement. Using Caplan’s “Two Communities” theory I analyse the knowledge utilization gaps not only between scientists and policy makers, but expand on the concepts in order to insert resource users into the equation. I discuss how, although not explicitly science-oriented, the development of the CFPR holds lessons for the scientific translation of knowledge to diverse audiences.

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