Minister promises jobs for young people in blue economy

By Shamar Blunt

If things go the way Minister of Environment, National Beautification, and the Blue and Green Economy Adrian Forde wants, more young people will find jobs in the quickly expanding blue economy sector.

He said given the increasing opportunities in the sector in Barbados, scholarships will be made available to help guide young people into new job areas.

“The blue environment and the opportunities in the blue environment are limitless,” Forde said at the opening of an exhibition for secondary students at the Bridgetown Fisheries Division on Friday. 

“I am encouraging young persons who are listening to me today to take hold of those opportunities. We are going to provide it in terms of thawing that policy framework that will assist you. [caption id="attachment_393231" align="alignnone" width="650"] Minister of Environment, National Beautification, and the Blue and Green Economy, Adrian Forde.[/caption]

“We are going to ensure that there are scholarships through the Ministry of Education. We are going to ensure as a government that we have scholarships that will seek to build out Barbados in a sustainable . . . way – scholarships that will seek to empower people to go and study those disciplines that will help [alleviate] this country from the [problems] that we face,” the minister added.

During the course of the morning, students from several secondary schools were exposed to exhibits featuring jobs available in the sector.

Forde added that the promised fisheries policy will also seek to address the shortage of young people in the industry and expose them to job opportunities.

“We have said that there must be a fisheries policy that seeks to engage young people at every single sphere of development, in terms of training and the ability to train our young people in our blue environment in areas that were never thought about 60, 70 years ago,” he said. [caption id="attachment_393230" align="alignnone" width="650"] Paul Hamel of the Barbados Game Fishing Association, giving students a demonstration on how different types of fish are caught.[/caption]

The minister identified some of those areas as oceanography, marine biology, deep-sea biology, zoology, shipwright and marine mechanical engineering, marine archaeology, naval architecture, and underwater sculpting and photography.

“We have said as part of our sustainable development that we would acquiesce to the United Nations General Assembly’s call to have the Sustainable Development Goal 14 being recognised and realised by the year 2030. It must now be a Barbadian call.

“I am saying today to those young people who are interested in the area, to come with open arms and grabble the opportunities that will be presented to you today in your open day exercise,” Forde said. 

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb ]]>