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Fishermen say Exxon’s operation forcing them out of fishing zone
– company denies allegations
Kaieteur News – Already facing a crisis because of dwindling fish stock in Guyana’s waters, local fishermen are now reportedly being “chased” out of their fishing zones as a result of ExxonMobil’s ongoing operation.
Fishermen mending their nets at the Meadow Bank Fish Wharf.
One of them, Toney Persaud, was willing to share his story with Kaieteur News yesterday.
Persaud said he has been fishing unbothered for some 20 years in an area located some 14 to 17 miles off Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
However, he claimed that his livelihood is now being forcefully taken away after three supply vessels contracted by American oil giant, ExxonMobil, ordered fishermen to stop fishing there.
According Persaud, his boat and 11 others were chased away from the area by the vessels at least six times last year. One of the vessels he identified as “Atlantic Spirit”.
“They tell we can’t go round there and fish anymore and that we need to find new fishing grounds,” the fisherman said.
“We done na ketch enough fish, now to hunt new fishing grounds is like starting over it really though,” the man continued.
Persaud added, “Sometime we does try to find new grounds but when we go you don’t ketch anything. You does come back with your sane tear up and barely enough to clear expense because you does burn gas.”
Pesaud he and the other fishermen would then return to their fishing zone only to be chased again.
“When we ask why we are being chased out of our fishing zone, the men on the vessels would tell us that they laying some cable in that area for the oil company and they don’t want us there,” Persaud told Kaieteur News.
The fisherman said that he thinks that they are being treated unfairly and wants the government to look into the matter.
“We have we maps and that area is marked as one of our fishing zones. It is tough on our families when we have to go and hunt new grounds… Look the other day we went till Pomeroon side, till Northwest and we ain’t catch anything,” lamented Persaud.
When asked about the allegations levelled by the fisherman, ExxonMobil’s spokesperson, Janelle Persaud, emphatically stated that the claims are not factual.
Recently Guyana’s Head of State, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali acknowledged that there are credible reports and concerns about low fish catches plaguing Guyana’s agriculture sector.
To appease concerns in this regard, the president had assured the fishermen that they will breathe a sigh of relief quite soon as his government has come up with an innovative solution.
According to Ali, that innovative solution is the establishment of marine cages or what is oftentimes referred to as caged culture.
It should be noted, however, that this initiative is still in an experimental method of aquaculture and involves the confinement and production of fish inside a type of mesh in existing water resources such as ponds, rivers, estuaries, open ocean, etc. The mesh retains the fish, making it easier to feed, observe and harvest.
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