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Fisher folk not supporting piracy interventions

Jun 13, 2009 News

Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, has expressed his disappointment in fishing folk, whom he said are not supporting or participating in the number of interventions made by the government in tackling the issue of piracy.
At a press conference yesterday, Minister Persaud said that since the establishment of the revolving fund, which assists people who are victims of piracy, only seven persons have subscribed to it.
The revolving fund, set at $5 million, is intended to provide assistance to fishing folk.
Minister Persaud said that the Ministry has found that the fisher folk are not subscribing to the fund. Persons have to subscribe 0.25% of the value of their assets, which include their fishing boats, engines or nets on an annual basis and pay an average of $6,000 per annum, in order to subscribe to the fund.
“If fisher folk subscribe to this programme, they are able to get a substantial amount of money, if they become a victim of piracy. We have this facility in place and all fisher folk have to do is to subscribe to it.”
As it relates to the communication network that was recently established, Persaud said that the fisher folk have not been purchasing the radio equipment to aid the process.
The Agriculture Ministry, in collaboration with the Coast Guard, had recently set up a state of the art communication network that covers 80 per cent of the fishing Co-operative Society.
The Ministry has invested close to $50 million where the Coast Guard, the fishing society and the police force are all interlinked with a single communication network.
Minister Persaud appealed to the Co-operative society to get on board.
He explained that to report an attack after 24 hours makes no sense, since it becomes difficult for the authorities to track down or pursue those engaged in the illegal act.
“All the fisher folk have to do is to buy a single handset, and that would be programmed into the system so if they are at sea, and should they be in difficulty, whether piracy or otherwise, they can radio. Immediately there can be a response.”
The Ministry of Agriculture has provided new boats and outboard engines to the Berbice and Essequibo communities.
Meanwhile, it was recently noted that there has been a decline in ‘reported’ and ‘confirmed’ cases of piracy.

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