NO fishing licences have been granted outside of the ones already issued, according to Minister of Agriculture, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, responding to concerns over the expression of interest by a Chinese group in the local fisheries sector.

“We have, right now, approximately 96 licences issued to trawlers that fish for seabob and prawns,” he told the media on Wednesday.
According to Dr Ramsammy, this is in addition to the artisanal fishermen and the ministry is looking to reduce that number in the interest of sustaining the fisheries resource.

MOU SIGNED
However, he maintained that while it has been made clear to the Chinese company that they will not be granted a licence to fish for seabob and prawns, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed to allow them to study the possibility of embarking on deep sea fishing.
Ramsammy said: “Over time we have had interest expressed in deep water fishing and some of these people who talk to us are Chinese, Barbadian, Americans and Trinidadians….my position when people raise these issues is to submit a concept note…it will be irresponsible on my part to dismiss them or to say come I’ll give you a licence.
“Based on this, a Chinese group has approached us with a two-page concept note and based on that we developed an MOU that simply stated that they will go and do a study of deep water fishing and identify what species they are interested in.”
The minister noted that once their study is complete, the group can return with a proposal – a stage not reached at present.
He reiterated that the MOU is only for a study.
“We have, as a country, been addressing overfishing….it is a resource that must be used responsibly so it is sustainable, and that is what we intend to do,” Ramsammy said.
The Environmental Community Health Organisation (ECHO) was the last stakeholder group to register their concerns about the undertaking.
In a release, the body said: “The mood and spirit of nations all over the world is to scale back on the use of natural resources. Globally, there is an urgency to put strict regulations in place to protect biodiversity and the culture of local communities.
In the face of unprecedented environmental events impacting our environment we, in Guyana, must do more to preserve the health of our ecology and protect local communities…ECHO has a real concern that this contemplated move by the authorities can lead to overfishing.”
The organisation made clear their contention that it would not be in the best interest of Guyana’s natural resources environment to grant licences to Chinese fishing vessels to operate in Guyana’s waters.

(By Vanessa Narine)