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The man in charge of B&D Trawling Ltd is leading a Jamaican approach to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of this Caribbean island's conch fishing industry, which he believes will redound to the benefit of all stakeholders.London, England-based MSC lists itself as an independent not-for profit organisation which sets standards for sustainable fishing.Roderick "Ricky" Francis, CEO of B&D Trawling Ltd, is part of the project called Jamaica Conch Cluster, which also includes Ton-Rick Enterprises Ltd, Newport Fish & Meats Ltd, and Seafood Incorporated Ltd. There are 12 private queen conch producing companies in Jamaica.Industry officials have said that MSC certification will validate the sustainability of Jamaican conch and appeal to environmentally aware customers. MSC certification is also the most recognised and respected wild capture fisheries certification body globally.Jamaica's conch industry is on the rebound, following a two and a half-year shutdown caused by an unfavorable abundance survey, and the industry was further affected by the advent of the novel coronavirus pandemic which broke out a year later. Those in the fraternity have reported losses that run into several hundred million dollars.To compound the hardship, conch producing exporters have reported suffering enormous pain, having paid over US$8 million into a special cess on the seafood, while the only relief given by the Government so far is a $5-million grant per company specifically for COVID relief.The Jamaica Conch Cluster (JCC) emerged after the formation of Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF), a private sector development programme that provides technical assistance to support productive development policies, business climate reforms, clustering initiatives and technology, and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Caribbean region.Background information shows that the JCC is a blue economy-based cluster that employs 699 workers, 67 per cent of whom are women.The JCC is seeking a technical assistance grant from the CCPF to achieve several business objectives.Jointly funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of Canada, the programme supports projects in 13 Caribbean countries.The financiers have contributed US$27.5 million to the CCPF, of which US$4.5 million is earmarked to technical assistance to Caribbean public and private stakeholders to support development of the blue economy."Clustering is basically firms within an industry that can work together to make the process more efficient," Francis told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview."A big part of the problem in the Jamaican legislation is that it doesn't really allow for full clustering. And when we were pitching the project to Complete Caribbean, they couldn't believe that the laws as they were actually discouraged persons from working together."The project has three pillars - one of them is to look at modernising the legislation to allow firms to allow more closely without getting penalised. The main part of the project is sustainability certification. MSC is the most recognised body internationally, for certifying wild card fisheries that is sustainable. Nowadays when you [are[ selling to a customer in the First World, the first thing they ask you is if you have any sustainable certification, because customers in those countries are really aware now of how their purchasing power impacts the environment."They want to make sure that when they are buying, they are doing so from a source that is not depleting the stocks, and when they are purchasing from somebody which is responsible and not doing harm to the environment or the stocks."We were closed down for over two years which was a big hit for the industry, because a lot of people invested in infrastructure before we closed down. There was a push from the Government for people to invest more, and we invested a lot, industry-wide, and we are faced with the shutdown for nearly two and a half years. The country lost significant foreign exchange revenue, and the companies like ours lost hundreds of millions of dollars during that period."So this is why this sustainability certification is really important for us because we don't want this shutdown to ever happen again, and the way how the climate is now, The Bahamas, this will be the last year that they will be allowed to export conch. They will only be allowed to have conch for local consumption," Francis stated.As to whether or not the shutdown was caused by overfishing of conch, Francis said that although there had been overfishing of the seafood, the industrial fishers are heavily monitored and the trade is strictly regulated by CITES, so one needs to look at the other loopholes of the newly implemented artisanal quota and foreign poaching"We are so tight in the industry, so tight with the regulations, because we have to get all this certification, we can't ship out a pound without going through NEPA (National Environment and Planning Agency) and everything. You have local poaching for the local market, you have foreign poaching that is coming in, and with The Bahamas closing down, I am expecting additional pressure from foreign countries to come and fish in our waters. So, we really as an industry have to ramp up our security, our prevention methods, to secure the products, because in a factory like mine, we employ over 200 people. In, say for instance, Rocky Point, all of the fishers that we use for conch are local. So imagine you put in almost $400 to $800 million in the hands of fishers from Rocky Point, imagine what you do when you take that out...what's that going to do for the area, the communities...how much less school shoes and uniforms it can buy. So this is a significant industry."Eighty-seven per cent of our employees are women from the innercity who work in our processing plants, single mothers ... they need this income, they need jobs. So if the season is not open, we cannot have any jobs. If the season is not open, then we can't buy the conch from the fishermen or use the fishermen in Rocky Point to harvest the conch, so all of that money that would be going to those communities not going anymore. But at least we were able to resume last year, the company was able to recover and we really have to thank people like the Exim Bank that really helped us through to weathering the storm."That's why sustainability is so important. It's not just, yes, of course environmentally, but economically, the impact that it makes on these communities is significant. The Complete Caribbean panel understood that and I think that's why they funded this project."The conch season opens in March and goes until the end of July. Another popular catch, lobster, is still in season."We are not back to levels that we were before the lockdown and we are asking the Government to remain conservative until this certification process is complete, because it's a long process...will take around 24 months. It's very rigorous, it includes a lot of consultation with government, surveys, a lot of information sharing and us being able to control the poaching. All of those things are going to be a big part of the certification," Francis added.Francis said that over 100 employees are engaged for the lobster season which began last July 1 and ends March 31. With conch harvesting, that number will be ramped up to over 200, which include fishers from Rocky Point and other areas, by getting their boats licensed, seeing that food handler's permits are in place, and finalising prices with them before boats are loaded."Some persons bring divers from overseas, but B&D doesn't do that. We like our money going to the local fishermen, even if it's a bit more expensive. We want to make sure that we are making a positive impact on our community. So we have people who depend on this year-to-year for their livelihood and the economy needs more and more opportunities for people to earn."MSC is extremely critical, because now it brings a third party into the picture, which is globally recognised. People can bypass the system but we want to make sure that it is minimised," Francis said.