Mustapha questioned by parliamentary committee on low fishing catches
With many fisherfolk across Guyana reporting steady declines in their catches, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha last Wednesday faced questioning by the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Economic Services on what the government is doing to ensure marine fisheries sustainability.
In response to the question posed at a meeting of the committee last Wednesday, Mustapha informed that the government is working on updating and implementation of its Fisheries Management Plans along with research on gear type in an attempt to get rid of those that have adverse effects on the environment.
He told the committee that the government is also embarking on a stock assessment of commercial fish species while closing the season for the seabob stock. It is also seeking to implement harvest control rules for the seabob stock, while looking at the introduction of an observer programme.
The Agriculture Minister did not go into detail as to what are some of the factors they have identified as contributors to the decline in catches.
Back in December last year, the government had said that researchers have declared the low catches as a global issue while adding that the government would have met with United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist with an analysis, to determine the reason behind the low catches.
That analysis is said to be in progress. “As I am speaking here, we have…a number of officers within the ministry and other agencies looking to see why we are
having the low catches so that we can have an answer to those things. Guyana is not the only country experiencing low catches,” Mustapha had explained during a subsequent engagement with fisherfolk in Berbice.
Last week, Stabroek News reported that Liliendaal fishermen were being instructed to move from their traditional fishing grounds by crew members of vessels supporting ExxonMobil’s offshore operations.
The fishermen had said that with low catches in other parts of the Atlantic Ocean along the East Coast, they have ventured all the way to Berbice in a bid to find a profitable area. Their expeditions, however, have been futile and has left them contemplating their next location. The fishermen are now considering the Pomeroon fishing belt but noted that their expenses are likely to be higher and only those who have money to invest will be able to venture that far.