Rosignol fishermen’s livelihood under threat

May 04, 2009 News

Fishermen who have been occupying a section of the Berbice River waterfront at Rosignol since 1956 say that they are facing a possible loss of livelihood because of the behind the scenes maneuverings of a businessman who wants to take over a section of their wharf.

A fisherman at the disputed section of the Rosignol Wharf rakes barnacles from the bottom of his boat before putting out to sea.

Chairman of the Rosignol Fishermen’s Cooperative Society (RFCS), Maiku, said that a section of the wharf had been leased to another businessman in 1996 with the approval of the Co-operative.
The arrangement was that the section be returned to the Co-operative if and when that businessman closed his business.
The business closed a few years ago after apparently running bankrupt and the section of the waterfront should have been returned to the society.
“What has happened is that a successor of the businessman with whom we had an agreement, is attempting to take over that area without the knowledge or permission of the Society,” Maiku said.
He said that the Society has heard that that the businessman had already secured a title to the section of the waterfront “behind the Society’s back”.
“If he gets through then half of the wharf gone! Where will the fishermen put their boats?” Maiku asked.
The fishermen said that they had raised the issue with several authorities including the Mahaicony/Mahaica/Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) but without any resolution to date.
“The MMA promised that they will look into it but time passing and nobody telling us anything and we understand that the man will soon be moving to put us out and develop that section of the wharf for his own use.”

Maiku points to the area the members fear they may lose

Diaram Persaud, another member, said that the numbers of fishermen and Co-operative society members had increased greatly over the years.
“If this man who we understand has a lot of “connections” gets through with his plan fishermen in this area will face serious problems with their work,” he said adding that there were many families who were dependent on the industry for their livelihood.
“We have tried all we can. The only thing left for us to do now is to call on the Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, to intervene and remove this man from trespassing on the land of the Co-op Society,” Diaram said.”