Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 09, 2023 News
…‘Ah done we done hay now’–fishermen
Kaieteur News – Guyanese fishermen, who operate in Suriname waters, are biting their finger nails in anticipation of a massive hike in fees, for the rental of the country’s SK fishing licence. Kaieteur News was told that come March, when new licences are expected to be issued by the Surinamese government, Guyanese operators will now have to pay as much as US$5,000 to rent the operating document from Surinamese citizens.
Local operators had hoped that the government would be able to work with its Dutch counterpart to have Suriname issue licences directly to Guyanese boat owners, since the locals were charging as much as US$3,000 to rent the document, they were getting from the government for US$30. One year since the Guyana government had said that Suriname was willing to issue more than a 100 SK licences to Guyanese, the licenses have not been delivered. And with the Surinamese licence holders geared to increase their fee to Guyana one million dollars, local operators are contemplating their next move, as they say the new charge will significantly weigh on the profitability of their fishing business.
Impossible rental fee
“No. Ah done we done hay now,” one boat owner said with much dismay. He told the Kaieteur News that “when we had asked for the licence, the concern was that the licence man dem were exploiting us. They were charging in excess of US$3000 for a licence that they were purchasing from the Surinamese government for about US$30. What we have now is that to get the licence, all the boats have to park in Suriname, we catch got to sell there, and all we business got to be done there. But what we are hearing now is that they will be raising the licence to US$5000 and that is unbelievable,” he explained.
Another Berbice operator who spoke with Kaieteur News over the phone said that the new charge will be “impossible” to pay because it will take a fishing boat at least six months to make back just the rental fee. “And we have to pay cash and all the money one time. It will take about six months to make back that money and that is just the licence alone. Then you have to think about maintenance, you got to cater for one, one bad trip in between, when the boat ain’t make no money and you got to make another trip to cover up that expense. And we ain’t talk about if you got to repair engine or you lose a seine of something like that.”
Boats in Suriname
To have the SK licences, Guyanese boats will now have to be parked in Suriname. To get home, the boat workers will have to take another boat to Guyana and make the trip back when it is time to work. The newspaper was told that 90 percent of Surinamese licence owners do not own boats. They use Guyanese boats to uplift the licence, so as the registered owner of the boat, the boat must be left in Suriname where the catch must be sold. Guyanese operators see the travel back and forth as stressful, they also lose money when all their catch which is also sold at a lower price in Suriname, is not sold and some refused to reduce the size of their boats as required by the authorities. They say too that Suriname does not have enough space to park boats and there is no security.
Kaieteur News was told that only two Saturdays ago, a Guyanese boat got “duck” in Suriname, because it had a leak and the boat owner needed permission from the authorities to have the boat returned to Guyana for repair. It took the boat owner about two days to get the permission required, but by then, the vessel had taken in so much water, its engine, equipment, food and other items got damaged, while some floated away. That boat owner suffered about $800,000 in losses, it was related.
Dying fishing industry
The operators told the newspaper that slowly but surely, the fishing operation is dying in Berbice, since the entire region fishes mainly in Surinamese waters. Many families who depend on the fishing industry are at risk as well as the small operators who also benefit from the industry. For one, fishing co-opts and landing sites will be significantly hampered by the current situation, the newspaper heard. Some co-opts provide various services to boat owners and provide employment to community persons.
Apart from those employed on the fishing boats, “hustlers” who earn a living selling and cleaning fish will be affected once all the business is done in Suriname. “The co-opt would have no one to sell fuel to, our ice machine wouldn’t be needed and will have to be closed.” The newspaper was told that already co-opts are scaling down on business and staff. Each boat that goes to sea purchases food for at least $80,000 and more from market vendors; they purchase fuel, and other necessities adding immensely to the regional economy.
The local fishermen say they are also considering when Suriname finds oil, what will become on them, since Georgetown fishers continue to speak of low catches. “We don’t know what will happen when Suriname starts to do their exploration and start pumping oil because that’s the cry from the fishers in Georgetown. Every time we got fishers organization with fishers from Essequibo and Georgetown, they complaining that the catch is not there like before.”
FAO fish study still unavailable
The fishermen say they are still unaware of the true reason for the low fish catch because the government is still to release the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) fish study that was done last year. They said what they know is what was reported in the news about too much rainfall and change in water to cause the fish to migrate. The men contended that throughout the years, rainfall never affected their business, and they enjoyed decent catches.
The men said that for them, the rain brings more fish because “the May-June season is what we really look forward to as we fishing season.” The concerned fishermen even questioned the authenticity of the study as they claimed that those conducting the study never visited their landing sites. They claimed that the FAO and the EPA were the agencies undertaking the study, and the named scientist with the FAO is based in Suriname. They said that the scientist made contact with local co-opts and processing facilities, so they suspect that that is the information that was used for the study. They say however that if the study is to determine whether the oil is playing a role, “they must be out there in the ocean taking samples to know if it’s oil or other contaminants in the water. Everybody know that when these oil drills go down and they use chemicals and the whole process, nobody is monitoring that, we ain’t got no body out there seeing if it’s the right chemical Exxon using or the right quantity.”
Government had given fishermen across the country a $150,000 grant last year. They say while they are grateful for the $150,000 grant, it was unfortunately not enough to even take some boat workers out of debt. They are urging the government to assess the situation facing the local industry.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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