Essequibo boat-building benefitting from fishing industry
If fishing has always been an integral part of Essequibo’s economy there is evidence that the transformation that has descended upon business in the region has rendered the fishing industry increasingly important to the livelihoods of its residents.
One indication of the consolidation of the region’s fishing industry is the patent evidence of the prominence of the boatbuilding industry. Accordingly, during our visit there two weeks ago Stabroek Business went to meet Leaton ‘Terrence’ Byron who, over time, has garnered a considerable reputation as a boat-builder.
Building fishing vessels is a pursuit in which the sixty-one-year-old has been involved for all of his adult life, having become attached to the trade at the age of sixteen. He began his apprenticeship at Jacklow in the Pomeroon, under the tutelage of Mr Hector Stoll where he spent five years. Two further attachments led him eventually to Charity where the heavy concentration of fishing activity persuaded him to create a business of his own.
These days, Byron says, the growth of Essequibo’s fishing industry has had a strong knock-on effect on boat-building. Both sectors, he says, are witnessing investments from returnees from the interior who have been favoured by returns from the gold-mining industry and whose investments in new ventures, not least, fishing, are beginning to create additional employment opportunities. Still, amidst the considerable competition that obtains he has been able to hold his own, specializing in the creation of the popular Drift Seine vessels. These boats commonly measure sixty-one feet by sixteen feet, the bellies of the vessels being around seven feet deep in order to accommodate the catch.
Modern fishing vessels are fitted with both essential gear and conveniences that include Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and radio set equipment, bunks for crew members, kitchens, huge ice boxes for storing catch and wrenches which, these days, have replaced crews in the hoisting of the laden seines. Byron says that a fully outfitted fishing vessel can cost the investor around $22 million dollars.
The industry provides a livelihood for categories of workers that include loggers. Building a fishing vessel necessitates the acquisition of various species of wood including greenheart, silverballi and mora.
See page 5B