FISHERMEN LIVELIHOOD IN JEOPARDY

Jun 02, 2018 Editorial

The recent ban on catfish from Guyana by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has dealt a blow to the local fishing industry. On the Corentyne and on the Essequibo Coast, the fishermen say that they must sell their exports on the local market at a cost that is most unprofitable.
The decision has been in motion for a long time. It has negatively impacted the catfish industry because the majority of catfish and fish products exported from Guyana are sold mostly in the States where a high volume of Guyanese and Caribbean nationals reside. The ban came at a time when the fishing industry is faced with low production due to constant attacks on our fishermen by pirates.
The ban has stopped the export of the catfish species, which include hassar, cuirass and gilbacker—about 70% of the overall fish export market to the U.S. at a cost of around US$2.2 million annually.
From coast to coast, fishermen have been reeling from the ban due to the fact that it has significantly reduced the price of catfish, in the country. Since the ban, fishermen have been very vocal about the challenges they face.
The Fisheries Department under the Ministry of Agriculture has noted that the U.S. ban on catfish has resulted from a change in the fishing Regulations in the United States on the import of certain species of fish. The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has inspected Guyana’s fish products processing system and concluded that it lacked certain requirements that had been put in place.
Since 2016, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for handling the import of fish into the U.S. has changed certain regulations in the inspection process. One of those changes is the FSIS reclassification of catfish as meat and not fish as soon as it is out of the water. It this becomes food and meat importation and must face rigorous inspection.
In order for the catfish ban to be lifted, the United States Department of Agriculture has recommended that certain conditions be met in Guyana’s fish processing system, according to U.S. requirements, but according to the Minister of Business, it was not acted upon.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has stated that not only was the authorities in Guyana given adequate notice of the planned changes in U.S. regulations for the import of catfish, but that the country had been granted a significant extension on the deadline for implementing the changes within the extended timeframe.
Although Guyana has already made changes to some of its fish processing plants and is working to solve the deficiencies in others, it might take a while for it to regain the U.S. market.
The Minister of Business has conceded that the authorities must take full responsibility for the circumstances that led to the U.S. ban of catfish and the country’s loss of its multi-million-dollar catfish market in the United States. However, some in the government see the move by the U.S. to ban Guyana’s catfish as an overall plan to reduce catfish imports significantly.
This assessment is based on several complaints by U.S. catfish fishermen that their share of the catfish market has been steadily decreasing due to imports predominately from Vietnam and other countries.
According to the New York Times, U.S. catfish industry became concerned since imports at one time accounted for about 75 percent of the market. The American catfish industry is concentrated in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.
Unless the ban is lifted, the livelihood of fishermen could be in serious jeopardy.

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