Basseterre, St. Kitts, Oct 18 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): As part of activities to commemorate World Food Day, The Ministry of Agriculture et al hosted a Squid Processing Workshop on Tuesday.
The event was held at the Basseterre Fisheries Complex.
Head of the Media and Communications Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture, Chaira Flanders explained that the technical staff was shown the various ways to prepare, clean and package the squid.
“The Diamondback Squid was caught by the staff at the Extension Services Division at DMR, the Department of Marine Resources, and so they used that opportunity to showcase the Diamondback Squid to the technical staff at the Basseterre Fisheries Complex,” she said. “During this particular session, the staff got the opportunity to clean the squid, they learned about the different parts of the squid, and they also learned how to properly package the Diamondback Squid as a value added product.”
She said Diamond back squid is an underused species of seafood and through this workshop they are promoting its use as a food source.
We wanted to show those persons who, of course, frequent the Basseterre Fisheries that diamondback squid is a species that we can also use for food,” she said. “The diamondback squid was prepared and packaged as not meatballs but squidballs and if you’re quite familiar with fishballs you’d know that the squid is something that can also be transformed into patties. So during the workshop it was mentioned that the diamondback squid is the featured product at the agri-night market that is the World Food Dey themed the agri-night market and during the night market persons would be given the opportunity to taste the diamondback squid products.”
Miss Flanders said this effort falls under the government’s commitment to reduce the food import bill and boost food security.
“We want to ensure that on this journey seeking to meet the target of reducing the food import bill, that we leave no fishery, we leave no vegetables, no food, anything that we have not been using. We’re trying to see how much we can utilize all of these goods, all of these products, these locally grown produce that we have here in St. Kitts and Nevis, and so that includes the Diamondback Squid,” she said.
The workshop catered to 9 members of the technical staff of the Fisheries Unit and Department of Marine Resources as well as invited fisherfolk.