The Government of the Virgin Islands is steadily moving forward to make fishing a third economic pillar and sustainable sector in the Territory with the launch of the Fisheries Advisory Committee.

The Conservation and Fisheries Department is reminding the public, particularly the fishing and hospitality community that it is illegal to fish for, obtain or possess sea-turtle meat or bi-products.

All fisherfolk are invited to a meeting at the Fishlock Hall, Botanical Gardens, on Monday, May 9, at 10:00 a.m.  

An 18 month sea-bed mapping project and hydrographic survey on a specified 13.5 square miles (or 35 square kilometres) area off the coast of Tortola, was completed last month.

The Conservation and Fisheries Department is informing the public that the Virgin Expressions Talent Showcase slated for Saturday, October 24 has been cancelled.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour, Dr. the Honourable Kedrick Pickering has denounced claims that there is wide spread fish kills in the Virgin Islands as a result of the Sargassum Seaweed.

Pelagic sargassum is a brown alga, or seaweed that floats free in the ocean and never attaches to the ocean floor. These free-floating forms are only found in the Atlantic Ocean. Sargassum provides refuge for migratory species and essential habitat for some 120 species of fish and more than 120 species of invertebrates.  It’s an important nursery habitat that provides shelter and food for endangered species such as sea turtles and for commercially important species of fish such as tunas. There are two species of sargassum involved in the sargassum influx: Sargassum natans and Sargassum fluitans.

The Government on the Virgin Islands is developing a marketing strategy to promote the Territory’s fishing industry.

The Conservation and Fisheries Department, in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour, is inviting all fisherfolk on Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke and Anegada to attend an important meeting at the Conservation and Fisheries Department on Monday, May 18 at 10:00 a.m.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour is informing the public that Fishing Licence applications, both temporary and annual, will no longer be processed at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour...