Grenada yellowfin and bigeye tuna - longline, troll, & dropline

Due to setbacks during the COVID pandemic this FIP hit unforeseen delays. Most of those delays have been related to funding. This FIP is still not funded. We were selected by the IDB Compete Caribbean project to fund large parts of our FIP, but so far funding has not come. We are currently in discussions with Finance Earth as well. To date, however, all funding for the support of the FIP has been in-kind labor contributions from GNEXTT and 1Skip out of their own pockets. AS of the August 2023 update, the landscape has not changed substantially until very recently. We never received the Finance Earth funding. However, the IADB funding is beginning to be released, with TORs being drafted a few being executed. For instance, funding for monitoring data collection and automated ICCAT and FAO reporting has been obligated with the project to be completed in mid 2024. However, many of the activities require that monitoring data to be available in order to proceed (for instance the environmental risk assessment). So while we have the funding to conduct the environmental risk assessment, mainly for bycaught species, we don't yet have the data and will not have data until mid to late 2025 at the earliest. As a result, we are asking to extend the project end date. Similarly for government engagement on ICCAT. We just hired a local coordinator for government engagement who is very well placed in Grenada. It is expected that he can deliver the engagement we need. Coupled with the recent negative certification by the US of IUU fishing, due to the complete absence of Grenadian compliance documentation at ICCAT, we feel ICCAT engagement is poised to really make a difference. Most of the lack of engagement, we feel, is related to a complete regime shift in the Grenadian government with the election of a new PM. His new government basically has us starting from scratch again, starting late in 2022. We have an MOU in place with the International Pole and Line Foundation to assist them with compliance under their new small scale fisheries initiative in the Atlantic. We also have strong ties and have engaged with NOAA International Affairs, who will likely run point on any trade negotiations stemming from the negative certification. We feel confident that our proactive stance will get Grenada past any potential sanctions quickly with the added bonus of exceeding the terms of the FIP. We feel that the August 2024 update will show massive progress across all activities, event though this entire process is still largely being funded out of the personal pockets of 1Skip management.