Fisheries Value Chain

The fisheries value chain describes every step that fish and seafood take from the moment they are caught to the moment they reach a consumer's plate. This includes harvesting at sea, landing at port, sorting, processing, packaging, storage, transport, wholesale, retail, and food service. At each stage, value is added — and so are jobs. In the Caribbean, much of that potential value is lost because fish are often exported as raw, unprocessed product, sending the higher-value stages of processing and packaging elsewhere. Strengthening the value chain means improving quality at landing sites, developing processing capacity, connecting producers to better markets, and ensuring that women — who do much of the post-harvest work — are fairly recognised and compensated for their contribution.