By Tahna Weston
Chairman of the Barbuda Council Devon Warner hopes the island will be able to export other seafood, in addition to live lobster, to the European Union (EU).
Warner said the Council, which is in charge of administering Barbuda’s affairs, is working closely with the Fisheries Division in Antigua in a bid to achieve this.
Europe is a crucial market for seafood exports from Barbuda.
Apparently the EU has determined that both Antigua and Barbuda do not meet certain Hazard Analyst and Critical Control Point (HACCP) requirements – a management system for food safety.
Warner also spoke of the ice machine, vital equipment for the sector, which has been plagued with issues for some time.
“The EU market, which is up in the air — Antigua and Barbuda losing its certification — these are things that we’re working with fisheries Antigua to ensure that we can bring back to the fishers and so on, because that fisheries aspect of it has a very great impact on the Barbudan economy.
“So we’re working to get all these things in place over the next couple of months. Of course, we do not dictate what the European Union does, but we are trying to provide the information that they require so we can bring back that aspect of our fishing industry,” Warner said.
However, while Warner expressed the notion that the country had lost its certification to export to the EU, Deputy Chief Fisheries Officer Tricia Lovell said this is not the case.
Lovell said the country can export live lobsters to Europe but no other seafood products.
She said that there needs to be a facility on Barbuda that can control food safety from the point of catching the seafood to it being placed on a plane for export.
“So, that means that they need to be able to store it in a place that is safe, pack it in a place that is safe and they need to have clean water, so it’s really about getting that in place,” she told Observer.
“There is less risk associated with managing the live lobsters because they are alive. Once you start processing you have other issues that may come into play if you have spoilage and contamination and so on; with fish you have other issues that may come into play…a toxin which causes fish poisoning.
“A lot of these things are on the exporter themselves. The other thing that the EU does — the EU has a list of exporters — it’s not just anybody can export and they update this list every now and then. If you haven’t exported in years they are going to strike you from the list,” Lovell said.
According to Lovell, seafood export on Barbuda is done mostly by private individuals and not necessarily the Council.
She said that the Fisheries Division has been doing its best to ensure that the EU requirements are met so that additional exporting can take place, not only in Barbuda but on the mainland as well, which is also subject to HACCP requirements.
Lovell noted that the country does not have the necessary testing facilities (laboratories), which are costly to build, to guarantee the safety of the seafood being shipped to other destinations.
“So we advise, inform, these are the requirements. We are constantly providing information but it is up to you as the exporter to comply … it’s not for the fisheries to do because at the end of the day we need to check, so we can’t do it and check it.
“You need to have your plan in place, some kind of HACCP plan, that we would have to check so it’s not for us to do it, but we provide the information.
“We have two exporters who are based in Antigua [and] every time they export we will also go and check to see the products they are exporting, regardless of what market they are exporting to.
“It’s not just EU; we also export to China and on rare occasions to the US,” Lovell disclosed.
She added that the Fisheries Division acts on behalf of the EU in ensuring that whatever product arrives at their borders is safe.
