Aquaculture has great potential for local, international market – British envoy

Jul 03, 2011 News

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As fishermen throughout Guyana on Wednesday celebrated “Fisherfolk Day 2011”, the Ministry of Agriculture along with representatives of the British High Commission and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) participated in an “Aquaculture Outreach” in various parts of West Coast Berbice (Region Five).
Under this year’s Fisherfolk Day theme “Towards a sustainable Fishing” , tribute was not only paid to those who indulge in marine and inland fishing but more particularly to the practices of aquaculture.
At the first stop at Drill Turn, Mahaicony, it was quite visible that massive infrastructural works were in progress since there were numerous fish ponds that were already developed and more work was being executed on the grounds.
Aquaculture Investor, Amar Gajraj, told Kaieteur News that there are 250 acres of land being utilized for agricultural and livestock purposes with 75 acres designated for aquaculture while the remainder was for rearing of sheep and goats along with vegetables.
He explained that almost $80M was spent on infrastructural works already which begun in January this year with some help from Government who supplied heavy machinery to assist.
Kaieteur News was told that within the next two to three weeks Gajraj should receive 6,000 fingerlings from the Agriculture Ministry and another 11,000 fingerlings from another entity, the Maharaj Oil Mill (Chico’s), which currently supplies fish feed.
Currently, Gajraj has 18 ponds to utilize and is awaiting his fingerlings to begin the rearing of Red Snapper Tilapia. Each pond has the capacity to comfortably rear between 10,000 and 11,000 fingerlings.
The aquaculture investor also stated that he has invested a lot of money in various aspects within the USA and England and after returning to Guyana at least six times per year, he decided to “get into the aquaculture business” since it was evident that such a venture would be deemed successful and profitable.
At the Trafalgar/ Unions Women’s Group Aquaculture Farm, Region Five, there are five fish ponds with a total of 15,000 Red Snapper Tilapia being reared.
According to Patrick Henry, Chief of Party, USAID/ Guyana Trade and Investment Support (GTIS) programme, the tilapia farm at Trafalgar has been established almost one year now and will commence exporting to the international market, specifically to Suriname and The Netherlands from August, 2011. Each fish should weigh at least one pound to fit the market standards requirement and this farm is expected to export between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds of fish per month.
Managing Director of the Onverwagt Aqua Ranch, Andre Poonai, told this newspaper that the farm is currently in its developing stages and needs US$1.2M to complete the fish farm.
Infrastructural works had begun some time in 2009 and the project is expected to be at its “full capacity” by 2013.

After the completion of the entire farm there should be a staff complement of 50 persons, expanding on the nine employed to date.
Kaieteur News understands that the farm is designed to produce 60 metric tonnes of shrimp and 500 tonnes of fish per year. The farm is expected to have a Tilapia hatchery, with six ‘4-acre’ shrimp ponds, a 25 acre irrigation reservoir, a seven acre tailings pond and 24 ‘1 acre’ Tilapia ponds.
British High Commissioner (ag), Simon Bond, explained that while it is important to secure export markets for the fish, there should also be consideration for the local market, since aquaculture is a business which will definitely see returns.
“Aquaculture has great potential, not only in fish for the local market but for export as well”.
USAID Mission Director, Carol Horning, stated that she has worked for a number of years around the world in similar activities and the partnership of the US, UK and Government of Guyana is somewhat rare, having such continued commitment in various endeavors, and this should be commended.
She explained that her organization has committed US $1.8M towards the aquaculture sector in Guyana since it was deemed a ‘promising initiative’ for the country and citizens as well as others in other markets.
“The assistance over the past six years helped to lay a good foundation for aquaculture here and the industry will become viable and booming in the near future”, said Horning.
Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, in his speech said that fishery accounts for 15,000 Guyanese, hundreds of whom hail from rural communities while the villages of some are dependent on fishing for survival.
He told the gathering that fishing has “influenced the culture and lifestyle of people even to a state of upliftment in living standards of many Guyanese” while he explained that aquaculture had tremendous opportunities but like any project it also comes with a lot of responsibilities not forgetting threats.
The most evident threat is that the sector does not want levels of complacency, the “dwindling of marine fishing resources”, which was also identified as the main threat towards the fishing industry.

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