Exxon’s operations not driving fish away-Jagdeo claims

Dec 28, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, has denounced the observations made by fishermen across the country, that the recent oil and gas operations have negatively impacted their catch.

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo

In a recent interview with social media personality, the ‘Guyanese Critic’ on Christmas Eve day, Jagdeo said, “now there is no scientific view, for example, that the oil and gas industry cause the fish to swim away from Guyana and he (KN Publisher, Glenn Lall) is telling the fishermen that the fish swim away; Now if we can prove that, that’s great but there’s no scientific view of that”.
The Vice President went on to explain that he grew up in the fishing community of Unity, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, where since he was a young boy, the catch would be low in certain seasons.
“I grew up in a fishing village, in Unity. There are periods when we have had low catch too. The guys would go out many, many times and didn’t bring in any(thing) much and that was long before we were producing oil, since I was a young boy,” he told the nation during the interview aired on the National Communications Network (NCN) and online.
As a consequence, Jagdeo implied that it would be irresponsible to attribute the decline in fish catch across the country to ExxonMobil’s operations.
However, when the first six months of 2019, 2020 and 2021 were compared, it was revealed that for the past two years, fish and shrimp production has been declining. This was evident in the recent Bank of Guyana (BoG) Half-Year Report.
According to that report, the fishing industry recorded mixed output performance and this resulted in a smaller reduction of 6.6 percent compared to the 12.1 percent recorded in June 2020. It was also stated that there was a decline in catches of fish and shrimp by 22.1 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively, due to a reduction in the number of fishing vessels operating.
A table in the report illustrated the fish and shrimp production as follows: fish (tonnes); 2019 – 10,378, 2020 – 9,509 and 2021 – 7,406, and for shrimp (tonnes) 2019- 10,046; 2020 – 9,259 and 2021 – 8,171.
In addition to this, Environmental specialists have been calling out the oil giant over its “unsafe” operations offshore Guyana.
During a recent interview with this publication, Environmentalist, Simone Mangal-Joly noted that the ramped up production rates are a reckless chase after money.
She said it is, “a reckless rush to chase money without counting the damages and losses in other areas in the process, both in direct benefit we accrue daily, and monetary terms, is shortsighted and dangerous to all of us, including businesses and our economy as a whole.”
She explained that each time a new Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel is welcomed to Guyana, it also brings along tonnes of toxic waste that is discharged into the waters, thereby impacting our fish and other marine species.
Already, fishers in Guyana have reported a rapid decline in catch, and are predicting that they may very well be out of jobs in the next five years.
A key report from the American multinational has warned that there will be significant impact on the nation’s marine resources, due to the cumulative impact of those oil related activities. This disclosure was made in the project documents for the Yellowtail development in the Stabroek Block, operated by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL).
Leroy Williams, who retails fish in Georgetown, is one of many that have attributed the decline in catch to Exxon’s operations.
The fisherman, who said he has been in the business for over 22 years now, also claims to be fearful of what is to come.
“Right now in the fisheries industry what I can say is that since this oil company is out there, the amount of fish we used to get in this market, we are not getting it anymore. Most of them fisherman when they go out, they are not getting no kind of catch because they throw the line and they go back next day to pull it up, but when they go back they can’t get nothing much. Since this oil thing come about the fisherman them suffering in this country here right now. By we ain’t getting fish in here, people hardly coming in to do any business. You see the size? We used to get bigger Curass than this. I think like all the fish moving out by the noise that does be in the water cause especially like how they drilling and so, the fish them like they moving away,” he explained.
Stayon Frank, another fisherman who retails his stock in the Stabroek Market told this newspaper, “ever since them man start drill we seabed out deh, we catch gone very low. I in this business like since I was a child. In the earlies, from like 2007 when I start catch fish to like 2016. We used to get an exciting catch. But you see from like 2016 to now; presently, we catch is like going and strain water cause when we go out there we would just catch back lil gas money and something to feed the family. You can’t presently do nothing for yourself with this fish”.