Nassau, The Bahamas: The Hon.  Michael C. Pintard, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources met with representatives of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) recently. The group officially presented to the Minister the Nassau Grouper Conservation Management Plan for The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and an accompanying Nassau Grouper Policy Brief  .

Dr.  Krista D. Sherman, Senior Scientist at the Fisheries Research & Conservation Program at the Perry Institute for Marine Science provided an overview of the management plan and policy brief which was designed to assist with population recovery and promote sustainability of the Bahamian Nassau grouper fishery.

Present were members of the Bahamas Nassau Grouper Working Group and Policy and Advocacy Team: Mr. Eric Carey, Mrs. Shelley Cant-Woodside, Mr. Lindy Knowles (Bahamas National Trust), Mr. Frederick Arnett, Ms. Natalie Miaoulis (The Nature Conservancy), and Mrs. Casuarina McKinney-Lambert (BREEF). 

The report pointed out that to adequately address threats to Nassau grouper, The Bahamas needs to be proactive with fishery management policies, and increase its capacity for scientific research, monitoring, enforcement and outreach which will require both national and international support from a diverse range of stakeholders.  The first step in this process is the implementation of the management plan and the Nassau Grouper Working Group is looking forward to collaborating with the Ministry on this initiative.