National Consultancy to Conduct Data Gap and Needs Assessments for the Fisheries Sector in Barbados.

This document is a report prepared by Nancy Montes to conduct a national consultancy on data gaps and needs assessments for the fisheries sector to inform Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) in Barbados. The consultancy is supported by the BE-CLME+ Project: Promoting National Blue Economy Priorities and is aligned with Barbados' broader Blue Economy initiative. The report's objective was to develop a comprehensive assessment of data availability, gaps, and needs focused on the fisheries sector, utilizing a systematic literature review, a participatory mapping exercise with fisherfolk, and structured interviews with key stakeholders. The report concludes that while MSP is closely aligned with the Blue Economy Policy Framework, the existing fisheries data—related to distribution, habitats, and species—is often outdated, incomplete in spatial and temporal coverage, and in varied formats (like PDF) which limits its immediate use for MSP. It provides an assessment of the technological and human resources at the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU) and Barbados Fisheries Division (BFD), offering detailed recommendations to address data limitations and capacity gaps.