Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard last Sunday responded to a report of piracy off the Essequibo Coast and aided several fishermen who were stranded.

The GDF in a press release stated that Coast Guard ranks investigated a report of piracy which had occurred off the Essequibo Coast in the Pomeroon and, in the process, discovered a second vessel which had reportedly suffered the same fate.
The five-man crew of the fishing vessel “Tony” was the first to report being attacked by pirates. They made good their escape and filed their report at the Coast Guard Floating Base, at the mouth of the Pomeroon River, the release added.
The GDF said that immediately, and in keeping with GDF’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), the Coast Guard ranks at the Floating Base launched a patrol between the mouth of the Pomeroon River and Morawhanna.
The patrol encountered another five fishermen in an unnamed vessel who also reported having been attacked by pirates. Their boat was taken along with the engines for the vessel in which they were found tied up, and they were left adrift at sea. The Coast Guard hailed a fishing trawler and instructed that the men be taken to Charity, where they subsequently made a report to the police, the army said.
The GDF noted that both fishing crews reported that they came under gunfire while the perpetrators made good their escape. The matters are being investigated further by the Coast Guard and the police.

ISSUE OF JURISDICTION
Retired Rear Admiral Gary Best, former Chief of Staff of the GDF, on September 13, 2013, during a press conference hosted by Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee outlined the issue of jurisdiction after questions were posed by the media as it relates to fishermen and incidents of piracy and fishing.
He said: “We have to remember that fishermen go after fish and they have started out at No. 51 and ended up about No. 63, but off No. 63 is Surinamese waters because the median line is determined by international codes.
But if you come ashore from No.63 you are in Guyana and we have to understand the location of fisher folks.”
Best added that fishermen are not out fishing with Global Positioning System (GPS) sending in their positions to the relevant fisheries co-op, as such it is difficult to determine their location in the event of acts of piracy.
Best said:  “They (fishermen) go out there without any equipment saying where they are and they might be arrested off Demerara and we are told they were arrested in Suriname. That’s their problem but it is a problem for the Government of Guyana.
“We have jurisdiction in our waters but we are not out there to see it and I trust that the fisheries agencies will equip their fishermen with the proper resources so that they can say we were in Guyana when incidents occur and not in Suriname. Right now we cannot say that and we shouldn’t be fishing without the proper equipment.”
Sometime ago, then Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud had advocated that fisher folks be equipped with GPS on their boats while on fishing expeditions, but to date that has not been implemented although there is an Anti-Piracy Fund for fishermen through that ministry. The minister’s advocacy was in response to many reported incidents of piracy affecting local fisher folks and the issue of jurisdiction.