AGRICULTURE Minister, Dr.Leslie Ramsammy on Friday expressed the view that the fishing industry is an important factor in the reduction of poverty in a country, citing Guyana as one such example. Dr. Ramsammy who was at the time addressing fisher folks in Berbice during the Fisherfolk Day celebrations, said people’s access to and the availability of fish constitute a significant part of food security in any nation.
“Guyana is a food-secured country and many families depend on fishing for their livelihood. More than 15,000 persons are employed in this industry.” he disclosed.
According to him, the per capita fish supplied in Guyana exceeds 58 kilogrammes, as compared to approximately 17 kilogrammes as a global average. He said, this in itself indicates that fishing is important as it ensures Guyana exceeds the demand for fishing needs related to food security requirement in the country and provides a genuine growth pole for exports.
“One of the major challenges we confront today in the global fishing industry is the challenge of depleting marine resources around the world. Guyana’s marine resource is still high, but we should not believe that it is limitless.”
Over-fishing is a real problem Dr. Ramsammy indicated as such he commended the Guyana Fishing Trawlers Association for their cooperation in addressing the real possibility of depleted marine stocks.
“We have opted for some voluntary action to prevent over-fishing. For example, we are seeking to limit the fleet size for trawlers in the trawling activity for seabobs. We have asked operators to reduce their fleets to ensure we do not deplete our stocks.” He informed.
However, failing to do so in a voluntary effort will elicit a stern effort imposed by the government he said.
Ramsammy believes that Guyana is also very keen in participating in the study of Sustainable Use of Fishing Resources being done through the (CRFM/JICA). He said it is building capacity so that the country could determine the stock levels for deep sea marine resources, artisanal fishing and inland fishing.
Dr.Ramsammy posited: “One way the world has confronted over-fishing and depleted marine resources is through the development of aquaculture. Aquaculture today accounts for more than 45% of the global supply of fish and, therefore, aquaculture is poised to become the major source of fish for people.”
He said aquaculture has been growing slowly in Guyana, but still marine and inland capture fish continues to be the major source of fish supply to meet local demand and for exports. In terms of aquaculture, we have reached an average of about 400,000 kilogrammes and an export average of about 56,000 kilogrammes annually.
Inland fishing has recently been highlighted in Guyana. “We are developing guidelines and regulations for Inland fishing so as to ensure that our rivers and canals do not become depleted,” he asserted.