DESPITE many challenges facing the industry, Upper Corentyne Fishermen’s Co-op Society (UCFCS), the only such in the country, has withstood the test of time and proposes to continue risking lives to feed the nation with high protein at low cost.

In an interview the Acting Chairman, Mr. Pameshwar Jainarine revealed that the organisation has 200 boats in operation, resulting in 50,000 pounds of fish being exported to foreign markets weekly.
The species of fish exports are grey snapper, sea trout and mackerel.
In addition to the Number 66 Village, Corentyne location, where 10,000 people benefit from the vocation, a group of fishers can be found at Number 79 Village and Crabwood Creek where an additional 40 boats are located and the weekly catch amounts to 20,000 pounds of mainly silver snapper.
Jainarine, who inherited the business from his father, said, prior to launching out to sea, the fishermen would collect, from the society for a five member crew, a two weeks supply of ice, twine, other fishing equipment along with groceries.
Fuel is secured from another location and as soon as they leave Number 66 they enter the Suriname waters.

Get licensed

“So, we have to get licensed to do so. Some licences are rented from our counterparts in Suriname at between US$1,000 to US$1,500 per year,” he related.
Jainarine recalled that, years ago, they were licensed through mutual cooperation between the Suriname and Guyana governments, and used to land the fish in the neighbouring country.
“And we would pay half the cost for the licence. But, that agreement has fallen apart and we now have personal arrangements between local boat owners and their Suriname counterparts,” he explained.
Jainarine said:”We feel that we should have fishing licences issued through government to government which would be beneficial to the Suriname Government, because of increased revenue.”
The licence is currently sold at SRD$250 which is equivalent to US$75 and counterparts sell it at US$1,000.
According to him:”We would be willing to land our fish in Suriname because, if we purchase the licence from that Government, then, whenever the pirates attack the fishing boats, they will be attacking that which is owned by the Suriname Government.
“That arrangement should deter the pirates,” he assumed.
Addressing the issue of piracy, Jainarine pointed out that the act of robbery or other violent action, for private ends and without authorisation by public authority that is committed at sea is not a new feature to the industry.
“Years ago, pirate attacks were seasonal. They came during the holiday periods. In those days, they took the engines. But, over the years the pattern has changed. The robbers now disable the engines, remove the fish, glue and groceries before tying up the fishermen and throwing them overboard to drown,” he narrated.
Jainarine said:”We cannot see an end to the piracy issue. We find that workers who survive a pirate attack are afraid to talk because, most of the time when their lives are spared, they are threatened. When we go to the police, they argue on the issue of jurisdiction. They are claiming that the acts are being committed in Suriname waters. So, when they arrest the pirates, many times the cases are dismissed. There are cases before the Court for two and three years. A fisherman has to return to Court every two weeks. After a while, he will get frustrated and not attend Court hearings.”
He said another problem is that, when you testify against the pirates and they are convicted, on their release they destroy the witnesses’ boats.

No solution
“It happened when (name given) escaped from prison. We have had meetings with the various Police Divisional Commanders, the Marine, the Coast Guard, the Black Clothes and the Blue Clothes, yet there is no solution to the ongoing problems.
“Because of this, the men are reluctant to return to sea whenever there is pirate attack. But, because it is lucrative business, attracting a weekly income of between $50,000 to $60,000, the men are lured to the sea instead of being a porter which will give them earnings of only $2,000 per day,” Jainarine lamented.
He remembered the last pirate attack, on October 1 last, when two boats were hijacked along with three fishermen in the vicinity of Coroni, a popular fishing ground along the Suriname Coast.
“A few days ago, we had reports that the bodies were seen afloat but, when the owners of the vessels went in search of the men, they returned empty handed,” Jainarine reported.
He said, in recent years, some 15 fishermen have gone missing from his co-op society, and from one vessel, ‘Miss Reshma’, five were never found.
Still the society does not have a piracy fund as a funding facility that was instituted at the level of the Agriculture Ministry fell apart due to mismanagement.
Another challenge facing the fishers is the unavailability of communication sets that is being blamed on the constant changing of the chairmanship.
Jainarine said:”Whenever a boat is hijacked, it takes days before the owner is notified and that would be after the fishermen may have been taken ashore. If they had radio sets in their possession, the society or boat owners would have been alerted much earlier.
However, because of the short tenure of a chairman, plans to have functioning radio sets did not materialise, since other important issues, such as the recovery of millions of dollars owed to the society by its members who had been victims of piracy attacks, took precedence.

Other essentials
“After an attack, we would assist the fishermen to return to sea. An engine and other essentials will be bought and, sometimes, as soon as they return to sea there is another attack. The recovery cost goes up and it can be challenging for the boat owner to repay during a stipulated period,” he posited.
Meanwhile, unlike their local fishing counterparts who are members of the Trawlers Association, the UCFCS membership does not benefit from a concession on fuel.
According to the Chairman, inspite of their constant pleas, their counterparts continue to pay a subsidised sum of $500 per gallon, while the society is charged whatever is demanded by the fuel distributors.
“It seems as though our pleas are falling on deaf ears,” he complained, stating that value added tax (VAT) is another challenge.
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has stipulated a list of items which are zero rated, yet when rope, seine and floats are purchased, a sixteen percent tax is included.
Jainarine said it is another issue that was highlighted to the relevant authorities but to no avail.
The hurdles notwithstanding, the chairman, who was elected four months ago has expressed gratitude to the Government of Guyana and the Minister of Agriculture for their unwavering support.

(by Jeune Bailey)