3Fisheries in the Caribbean countries are based upon a diverse number of resources. The most important fisheries are for offshore pelagics, reef fishes, lobster, conch, shrimps, continental shelf demersal fishers, deep slope and bank fishes and pelagics. The types of gear used differ between the different fishers and varies across the different nations. The importance of these fisheries also varies widely among the countries (Chakalall, Mahon and McConney, 199

. The region not supports any of the world's major fisheries but the fisheries are economically important to most countries in the area. lobster, conch, reef fish and shrimp) are either fully exploited or already over exploited (Chakalall, Mahon and McConney, 199

. This situation provokes some unwanted consequences in the regional fisheries, like adding more pressure to the natural resources, creating conflicts between fishers, affecting their livelihood (Salas et al, 2007) and the decrease in quantity and quality of the marine resources (Breton, 2006).