Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 12, 2022 News
– as Suriname demands catch, reneges on issuing licences
Kaieteur News – Guyanese fishermen might be heading for even more challenging times as an agreement between Guyana and Suriname to provide 150 licences to local fishermen by the start of this year is yet to materialise.
The issuance of these Suriname Coast (SK) licences would allow Guyanese operators access to that country’s offshore fishing grounds as a means of regularising the operators, who have over the years complained about high costs of acquiring fishing licences through Surinamese middlemen and harassment by fishermen and coast guard operating in the Dutch territory.
Given several factors currently affecting the local industry, fisherfolk were hopeful for positive news when Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and other ministers visited Skeldon, Upper Corentyne on Sunday.
The Vice President told the fishermen that the government was having a hard time securing the Dutch licences since operators in that country were pushing against the arrangement. He said that the issue remained unresolved because there are individuals in Suriname who are benefitting from the current licensing system. Guyanese pay as much as US$3,000 and US$4,000 to use Surinamese fishing licences.
Chairman of the Guyana National Fisherfolk Organisation and the Upper Corentyne Fisherman Co-op Society, Parmeshwar Jainarine told reporters that Guyanese are facing even more hurdles as Surinamese authorities are now instructing them to leave their boats in that country if they wanted to maintain their licences. He disclosed that there are fisherfolk in Suriname who own 25 to 30 fishing licences but they do not have a fishing boat. Those persons, he explained, “take out the licence as a business and sell it to Guyanese.” However, to prove that the licence was acquired for legitimate reasons, Guyanese must now leave their boats in Suriname so that the licence-holder there could show the boat to the authorities.
Outside of this, Chairman of the Greater Georgetown Fishermen Co-op, Mohamed Khan told Kaieteur News that there are many factors affecting fishermen in Guyana. He said that the licence matter would have been one to ease some of the pressures being felt because neighbouring countries have been tightening security at their fishing grounds.
While fishermen have complained about low catch resulting from oil operations offshore Guyana, Khan said that a fish study would confirm this. He noted, however, that the fishing ground for Guyana has reduced.
“So if they used to go here in Suriname and fish and here in Venezuela to fish, they can no longer do that,” Khan explained.
Meanwhile, where the Surinamese licence is concerned, Khan said not only are Guyanese being told to keep their boats in Suriname, but they are also being told to reduce their boat sizes and to sell their catch in Suriname. An influx of fish to the Suriname’s market, he said, would mean less money in Guyanese pockets since they would have to sell their catch cheap.
Minister Mustapha has told the fishermen, however, that, “Many don’t want to see the issue resolved because they are benefitting from it, so they are fighting to prevent the issue from being solved and so that is the problem, we don’t control it.”
He, nevertheless, assured that the government is working to resolve the licence matter.
Fisherfolk here were asked to provide all their fishing related complaints which will be reported to the Foreign Affairs Minister there.
Mustapha said, “We (government) are trying our utmost, I have been talking to the fisherfolk, especially No.66, on a regular basis. They have been sending messages that they are being harassed, that their boats now have to go to Suriname to be inspected for licences. The Corentyne River fishermen are saying that they want them now to reduce the size of the boat to fish in the Corentyne River, all these issues I raised with our partner and when we raise these issues, they are making commitments that they will deal with and look into it and try to resolve it.”
Khan, who is Chairman of the Guyana Fisheries Limited, said that he is part of a team working with the Fisheries Department of the Agriculture Ministry to create policies that would improve the conditions under which fisherfolk currently operate in Guyana.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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