[Prospective] Suriname southern red snapper, vermillion snapper, kingfish and grouper – hand line & longline

The Suriname snapper, kingfish and grouper hook & line fishery uses demersal longlines and hand lines to target Southern red snapper (Lutjanus purpureus), Vermillion snapper (Rhomboplites aurorubens), Kingfish (Scomberomorus cavalla) and Grouper (Epinephelus spp). The fleet consists of wooden, decked vessels that make trips of 2 to 3 weeks, storing the catch on ice.

This fishery has traditionally been carried out by fishing vessels from Venezuela. With the establishment of an EEZ by Suriname in 1978, the waters where Venezuelan vessels fished for snapper came under Surinamese jurisdiction. In order to regulate this fishery, a treaty was concluded with Venezuela in 1986, specifying the conditions under which the Venezuelan vessels can operate.  In 2023, Suriname licensed 131 Venezuelan hook & line vessels to fish within the Suriname EEZ.

The registered catches of this fishery approximated 3,300 tons in 2023 and serve both the export and local markets.

Caribbean Sea Foods NV and Deep Sea Atlantic NV have decided to collaborate with CeDePesca to develop the prospective stages for a FIP. CeDePesca team will conduct the MSC pre-assessment during the next few months.

On February 17th, CeDePesca sent a formal letter to the Director of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries), to notify about the prospective FIP for kingfish and grouper.

On the other hand, in recent months CeDePesca has been working on the preparation of the Pre-Assessment of this fishery.

The next step is to develop an action plan for the FIP.