Major project to revitalise fishing cooperatives to be launched today

Mar 27, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News- A groundbreaking partnership aimed at strengthening the professional capacities and working conditions of Guyana’s artisanal fisherfolk will be launched today.

The initiative, spearheaded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under the FISH4ACP Project, will focus on revitalising cooperative culture and empowering women within the fisheries sector. This partnership will bring together the implementing partners, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Ministry of Agriculture – Fisheries Department, the Ministry of Labour, fish cooperatives, and informal associations, FAO said in a press release.

The ILO will contribute its extensive expertise in cooperative development to enhance governance, boost business management skills, and promote sustainable practices. FISH4ACP, an initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (OACPS), implemented by FAO with funding from the European Union (EU) and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is focusing on improving the productivity and competitiveness of the Atlantic Seabob fishery.

Key highlights of the project include empowerment, where the partnership will prioritise empowering women in artisanal fisheries. Additionally, through expert collaboration, the partnership will see the ILO providing technical expertise in cooperative development. The initiative also promotes sustainable fishing and business practices, and will focus on improving the business acumen of the cooperatives to be a legitimate and transparent business that will contribute to Guyana’s economy as well as the country’s food security and nutrition. It will also work with cooperatives to meet export and international market requirements that will support the rest of the Caribbean community. The launch is slated for 8:00 am at Herdmanston Lodge, Peter Rose Street, Georgetown.

The launch of the project comes at a time when Guyanese fishermen are complaining bitterly about their inability to catch fish in the country’s waters. The fishermen said that they have been reeling in empty seines since 2020. Many have voiced their frustration through various media but as the situation worsens, they have taken matters into their own hands by posting TikTok videos of their hardships. One crew posted a video recently, complaining after they spent four days at sea and caught nothing. “I never see something like this in me born life,” one of the crew members said, while adding, “Ayo watch one (expletive) nah come pon this seine hay.” The men said that empty seines are out-weighing their catch for about three months now. “All them pickney (their children) hungry and suh now,” one fisherman said as he explained that catches are not sufficient to cover fuel costs for their boats.

Another fisherman declared, “A we dese ga rent fuh pay and suh…We collect $100,000 (the cash grant) duh can’t even pay the rent when yuh done buy lil ration and suh.” “A we a wuk and a we nah get pay, nah fuh seh like a we nah work. This thing a send a we mad now… a mad a we a run now, watch,” another fisherman added.

The fishermen believe that ExxonMobil’s oil operation offshore Guyana might be chasing away the fish. “All dem time when dem nah a draw oil, a we been a ketch a we fish aright,” the fisherman said with support from his colleagues.

The government has, in the recent times, dismissed claims that the oil operation is contributing to the disappearance of fish from Guyana’s waters but the fishermen are not accepting that. “Eleven years me a wuk a sea now and me neva see something like a this, and dem a tell a we that oil nah do fish nothing, ayo watch (shows their empty seines) ayuh get sense, ayo watch”, a fisherman argued. The fishermen said that they have been complaining for years but their concerns are falling on deaf ears so they have decided to protest publicly, using the various social media platforms so that the masses can see their plight.

The Ministry of Finance, in its 2021 mid-year report, had claimed that chemical changes in Guyana’s coastal waters have caused a significant decrease in seafood production, specifically shrimp. It was stated that the significant reduction in the production of white belly shrimp was caused by a change in salinity of coastal waters. Salinity is the degree of saltiness of the water. In 2023, a report for one of ExxonMobil’s proposed well campaigns for the Stabroek Block sought to discredit the fishermen’s claim that oil operations are dwindling fish supply. The report had stated that Guyana has seen a declining trend since 2013, two years before the discovery of oil.

(Major project to revitalise fishing cooperatives to be launched today)

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