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‘Fishing industry collapsing’ – fisherfolk boss tells Finance Minister
Kaieteur News – Chairman of the Guyana National Fisherfolk Organisation and the Upper Corentyne Fisherman Co-op Society, Parmeshwar Jainarine has scrutinized the figures released by the Ministry of Finance, as they relate to the production/catch percentage within the local fishing industry. Jainarine said it is far from what it really is and has noted that the fishing industry is collapsing and is being neglected by the Government.
Chairman of the Guyana National Fisherfolk Organisation and the Upper Corentyne Fisherman Co-op Society Parmeshwar Jainarine
These comments were made during the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce meeting with the Minister responsible for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.
During Dr. Singh’s presentation for the National Budget 2021, he outlined that there was a decline of 17.1 % in the year 2020 and for 2021 fish production tumbled to 22.1 %. Jainarine, who represents over a thousand fisherfolk on the Upper Corentyne said that, “over the past year the fishing industry has been slowly collapsing. Our catches have been down and there was a statement from the Minister of Finance that fish production or catch has been reduced by 27%. We feel that figure is wrong, for us it is more like about 70%, there has been a decline.”
Jainarine has said that operating costs, fuel prices, groceries, fishing equipment costs, have all skyrocketed and have only added to their fishing woes. He stressed that, as fishermen battle to earn their next dollar, there is “no-one to talk to, no-one to give any sort of relief to the fishing sector. We are saying that the fishing sector has been neglected by the Government.”
He did, however, alluded to the fact that the Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, has been “doing a tremendous job”, but that his focus is primarily centered on farming. The GNFO Chairman says there is a dire need for qualified persons in the fishing industry who “understand fishing to be dealing with issues affecting fishers.”
Furthermore, Jainarine has said that for the past budgets “nothing of substance has been allocated to the fishing sector.” He highlighted that a Coast Guard vessel that was purchased in 2019 by the Government to the tune of $99M has never been used.
“The boat na mek to go do the work because it was the wrong boat they purchased. The engine cannot go out and patrol”, he disclosed. The vessel’s intended purpose was to conduct patrols, monitoring, and surveillance of fishing vessels to ensure that they are operating within the regulated areas of fishing.
He stressed that the fishing industry is in need of urgent help and attention, and is calling for the relevant authorities to address same.
Dr. Singh, in response, agreed that the industry is collapsing, but noted that the figures presented by him were reliable, but that he would not dispute the figure presented by Jainarine. He promised to raise the issue with the Minister of Agriculture and, in the same breath stated, that while there are problems within the fishing sector, many of those issues “might not be easy to fix” but “one of the things we are trying to encourage is fish farming, aquaculture and we see Guyana having quite the potential for aquaculture.” The Minister also met with the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce and the Berbice Chamber of Commerce.
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