The Ministry of Blue and Green Economy, Agriculture and National Food Security, through the Fisheries Division, yesterday launched the Emergency Livelihoods Project boatbuilder training agriculture and climate resilience at the Hope Boat Building Facility in Layou.
This will be a two-phase training module delivered virtually and in person by the consultant Mr. Derrick Menezes, Indian Naval Architect.
The first phase, which is the theoretical training component, which will take place from June 14 to 22, will be done virtually. The second phase is the hands-on training component and will give participants a hands-on approach to plug and mold construction. This phase will run from July 4 to September.
Fisheries Support Officer Mr. Curlon Baptiste explains that the project aims to build resilience into boat building in Dominica.
“What we want to do now is to develop our local boat builders’ knowledge of boat building, because after Maria we lost a lot of our boats. So what we’re trying to do now, it’s to make our boats more resilient. We got help from a naval architect in India, Mr. Menezes and he is building on the knowledge they already have,” said Mr. Baptiste.
Mr. Baptiste says that about twenty-five people from all over Dominica will participate in this training module.
“We are aiming for twenty-five participants. We have six boat builders and each boat builder came with at least two participants. We also have young trainees who will be there to acquire knowledge by learning to build boats; learn to make corks and moulds. So that’s another thing we’re targeting; we are trying to build the capacity of our young people through this training,” added Mr. Baptiste.
Meanwhile, Director of Fisheries, Mr Jullan Defoe, said the training was mandated by the World Bank, which is the funding partner for the Emergency Agricultural Livelihoods and Climate Resilience Project.
“It’s a World Bank requirement that we run this capacity building training to get our boat builders used to the materials, techniques, etc. So that doesn’t mean we don’t have the skills, but as part of the project we have to make sure that the boats we build are resilient. The idea was to build a boat that was resistant and incorporated all the key components so that a fisherman at the end could have a boat seaworthy with all the necessary components without cutting corners, so that was the idea behind the boat builder training, so your skills will be honed in one way or another, you may learn be something you didn’t know before, but overall the idea was to introduce our current boat builders to new materials, new products and a new way of doing things,” M Defoe explained.
Mr. Defoe added that the postponement of this project has allowed the division to better prepare for the increase in capacity expected at the end of this training module.
