Nelson’s Dockyard National Park’s long-awaited draft Marine Spatial Plan and Natural Resources Management Plan have reached their final public validation stage, and local organizers are reaching out to all residents and industry stakeholders to take part in a crucial upcoming workshop to shape the future of the protected area.
Scheduled for Thursday, 24 September 2026, from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Events Center in Long Hall, Officers’ Quarters within Nelson’s Dockyard, the workshop is designed to center local knowledge and community input. Unlike closed-door planning sessions, this event gives everyday community members direct access to review the full draft proposals, ask clarifying questions of planning teams, and share generations of lived experience with the park’s land, coastal, and marine territories. This on-the-ground insight is seen as critical to creating plans that balance ecological protection with the needs of people who rely on the park’s resources.
Discussion topics planned for the workshop cover a wide range of core management issues that touch both conservation and local livelihoods. Attendees will dive into pollution and waste reduction strategies, formal designation of different marine use zones, zoning for protected conservation areas, priority fishing zones, and spaces allocated for other marine activities. The session will also cover agreed management priorities for land, coastal, and marine ecosystems across the park, as well as the overarching governance framework that will guide plan implementation once finalized.
Organizers have specifically encouraged broad participation from a diverse cross-section of groups, including individual local residents, civil society organizations, private sector representatives, independent fisherfolk, local farmers, and stakeholders across the marine, fisheries, and tourism sectors that depend on the health of Nelson’s Dockyard’s ecosystems. Anyone interested in attending is asked to register in advance via the official form at https://forms.gle/zowf6GeXFnDznNeW7.
The development of the two management plans is being carried out as part of the broader EbA Caribbean Project, led by the Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE) at The University of the West Indies Five Islands campus. Local on-the-ground implementation at Nelson’s Dockyard National Park is being handled by Integrated Health Outreach, working in formal partnership with the Antigua and Barbuda National Parks Authority. The entire initiative receives funding from the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, which supports ecosystem-based adaptation and conservation work across the Caribbean region.