New measures announced to help Essequibo fishermen
LICENSING of fishing boats would be done in Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) and a system will be put in place to know how many vessels are at sea and when they are expected to return. There is also a plan to establish a Coast Guard station communication link with radar along the Essequibo Coast that would be very helpful to fishermen at sea, officials announced yesterday.
The announcement was made when a team, including Mr. Denzil Roberts, Chief Fisheries Officer; Mr. Orwin Porter, Commander, Coast Guard; Mr. Michael Tennant, River Navigator; Mr. Vofton Skeete, Harbour Master; Mr. Parmanand Persaud, Region 2 Chairman and other Government officials met with some of the fishermen who were victims of the recent piracy attack and their families.
Some of those who suffered at the hands of the attackers related their experiences when the pirates invaded their boats last Friday.
At the meeting, in the Regional Boardroom, at Anna Regina, Selina Persaud, of Cotton Field, also on the Essequibo Coast, who has braved the rough seas to be with her fisherman husband for 28 years, said there is a great need for resuscitating the cooperative society in Region Two.
She advocated for it while addressing the members of the Martine Rescue Coordination Centre.

PLIGHT
Citing the plight of the victims of last Friday’s piracy attack, Persaud noted that there is no co-op society for fishermen in the Region and they cannot be effectively represented in the fishing industry.
The fisherwoman, who worked alongside her husband pulling seines or using hooks and lines to fish and even operated outboard engines on the high seas, declared that it is very hard work and tough on them to bring the catch ashore.
She insisted there is a necessity for them to get full representation and resuscitating a fishermen’s co-op will serve to actively represent their concerns, especially security from pirates while at sea.
Persaud said the two fishing complexes at Lima and Charity, both on the Essequibo Coast, should be given back to fishermen so they can provide ice and needed equipment for themselves.
The former Secretary and Executive Member of the Lima Inshore Fish Port Complex and Society maintained that fishers and their families are hard working people and must have full representation at all levels of the industry.
She said, currently, they lack ice supplies with which to go to sea and the two complexes that were privatised are not working in their interest.
Past Councillor of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Mr. Pooran Persaud, speaking on behalf of the fishermen who were beaten and robbed recently, said they need some assistance to resume their vocation.
He pointed out that the men have families and must find food to put on the table for their children every day, adding that it is a question of their livelihood.
He also called for the Coast Guard to patrol the high seas daily and protect fishermen from piracy attacks while fishing.