Abstract

Barbados has been actively exploring opportunities to diversify and strengthen its growth through the development of its blue economy. Fisheries is one of six ocean-based sectors prioritized for development. A fisheries-related blue economy is not new for Barbados; it existed before the term was used and popularized. There are many examples in the recent history of the Barbados fisheries-related blue economy from the 1980s to present. These include fishery infrastructure development, capacity development via fisherfolk training, mariculture enterprises, marine protected area initiatives, fisheries co-management, other fisheries management planning, legislation updates, creation of advisory committees etc. Using a literature review of a collection of small-scale fisheries cases from the 1980s to the present, in combination with key informant interviews, we examine if and how past fisheries-related events shape and influence current approaches to the Barbados blue economy, particularly the marine spatial planning process. We seek to understand whether a tendency towards path dependency constrains the current blue economy roadmap and could persist in future approaches