Declining fish catch

Nov 28, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Currently, fishermen and their families are those primarily concerned about the significantly lower fishing catch that they experience, when they ply Guyana’s fishing fields. The results are meagre, as we reported recently: “Declining fish catch triggers worry among local fishermen – many blame Exxon offshore operations; predict death of industry in five years” (KN November, 22). By any calculation, it is a grim present, and a grimmer looking future for fishermen and all the many others who depend upon their catch.
The dependent includes their families foremost, then the many retailers who make a living from what they bring to shore and can be offered in marketplaces, fish shops, corner shops, and street side vendors. Regarding the small shops and smaller vendors struggling to make it, fish burgers, fishcake, fish and chips and fish and bread are profitable daily staples. Take that away, or it becomes scarce and prohibitively expensive, and there is only meat and veggies left. That is, for those Guyanese who even deal with veggies to any great degree. The bustling subculture of cleaners, porters, and much smaller self-helpers gathered around the wharves to squeeze out ‘a little something’ from the daily fishing catch must also number among the dependents in our fishing sector.
The fishermen can barely make it with their catch, now well below normal levels, with almost 50 percent decline felt. They blame the rapidly expanding offshore operations of Exxon. One school of thought points to higher salinity in the water negative impacting marine life, with humans feeling the effects later, as Guyanese do today. Others blame changing meteorological conditions, with global warming all the rage. The temperature effects, which some unfamiliar minds may deem as negligible, have wreaked havoc in many places on a global scale, including possibly marine life, hence the cries of our fishermen.
It would appear that there is considerable basis for the misgivings and wraths of our local fishermen when they point to Exxon and its offshore operations as the main factors contributing to their plight. For, as our November 22nd article referenced earlier noted, “A key report from the American multinational…warned that there will be significant impact on the nation’s marine resources, due to the cumulative impact of those oil related activities.” To be clear and direct, “those oil related activities” are the intensifying priorities and rush of Exxon, while “significant impact on the nation’s marine resources” means Guyana’s fishing fields for one, with the many consequences that Guyanese of many walks of life must grapple with, and are left to resolve on their own.
The PPP Government and its leaders who like to shout that they are for the small man and the poor and working class have been mostly quiet, and content to hide behind meaningless pronouncements. That is if and when they say anything at all. This is the state of impotency to which Exxon and its kind have reduced Guyanese political leaders. We make no exception for any political group, any political leader, any government minister, whether of today or of the recent past.
Our powerful political presences and voices in Government and Opposition are without substance or sound. Incomes are depleted and could be lost and there is no one and nothing to comfort our people, who are told that the oil is our blessing; and it is the divine right of the President and Vice President and Leader of the Opposition to go along quietly with whatever sewage Exxon drops on the heads of weaker, vulnerable citizens of this nation.
Our nutrition intake is involved and impacted negatively, because with the declining fish catch, the focus then shifts to animal-based products, and all the known issues that follow.
Our families are faced with higher fish prices, lesser availability, and concerns about the quality on the table, since the catch is so tiny. Fresh, frozen imports are not the same thing as straight from the sea to our homes. This oil, supposedly a blessing, is killing us, limb by limb.
Is anybody listening to our calls to explore and produce sensibly, with what protects? Where are Government leaders? What happened to their voices? Have their strength and willpower declined also, just like the fish catch?

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Declining fish catch

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