Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, has stated that a healthy ocean is critical to Jamaica’s economy. Minister Samuda, who was speaking recently at the Regional Launch of the Blue Justice Caribbean Hub in Kingston, noted that the ocean is an integral part of Jamaica’s cultural identity, and is critical to economic growth and development and the well-being of Jamaicans. “Jamaica has long said that ocean health will lead to ocean wealth. This is why Jamaica is a member of the high-level panel for a sustainable ocean economy. Indeed, the country’s key economic drivers are dependent on a healthy ocean. These include tourism, fisheries, shipping, and logistics services. This has been so through two colonial powers and certainly post-independence. This awesome EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) that we enjoy, I would posit, potentially represents greater economic value than the activity we have on land”, the Minister stated. As such, Minister Samuda added that Jamaica, which is often listed as a Small Island Developing State, needs to shift its mindset to think of itself as a large and powerful ocean state. “I believe initiatives such as this (the Blue Justice Caribbean Hub), backed with the appropriate investments into the capacity of the National Fisheries Authority, into the JDF (Jamaica Defence Force) through its maritime operations and of course, into the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) through its maritime operations, strengthen the potential and the trajectory for Jamaica to truly establish itself, not just as a country with an EEZ twenty-four times its size, but as that powerful ocean state”, the Minister noted. Minister Samuda commended the conceptualizers of the Blue Justice Caribbean Hub, which is a regional hub to strengthen cooperation and coordination in the use of innovation and digital technology to fight fisheries crimes, adding that it is initiatives such as this that will make a sustainable ocean economy possible. He added his voice in calling for persons to use this platform to ensure that the JDF and the JCF can properly use the limited resources they have to provide the security that we need for Jamaica’s EEZ. Minister Samuda said that Jamaica is a member of the High Ambition Coalition. He said “Even before the Global Biodiversity Framework was signed last year, Jamaica had committed that it would protect 30 percent of its land mass, and 30 percent of its EEZ by 2030. We have some work to do because we are over 25 percent of our land mass, and we will get to 40 percent by 2030. But we are lagging with some of the protected areas that we need to look at in our EEZ…we are at about 15 percent”. In closing, Minister Samuda made a call for citizens to join the move in protecting our EEZ. “It will require resources. But it also requires the commitment of everyone in this room to help us carry the message so that the public understands that this ocean, which surrounds us, provides amazing opportunities through the right mix of protection, the right policies, the right oversight, and the right enforcement to yield significant economic gain”.
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