By Vanessa Braithwaite
Rockstone, a little fishing community in Region 10, bordered by the mighty Essequibo and enclosed by dense rugged vegetation is indeed a gem to be discovered. Many persons who pushed the mundane things of the life aside and journeyed to this little paradise were able to behold and experience the serenity and panorama of Rockstone.
Though the community came alive with electrifying music, delicious food and fun activities over the weekend during the fish festival, what was more important for the residents is that scores of persons had a taste of their paradise.
And that was the bait to encourage them to come again.
The fish festival, though not well supported as in previous years, because of reasons beyond the control of the coordinating committee, was a success.
Hosted for two days, it was revealed that Saturday had very little activity but Sunday saw scores of people from all parts of Guyana journeying to Rockstone.
They were entertained by cultural presentations from the children of Rockstone and the competitions ranged from fish de-boning, fish scaling, roast fish, smoke fish, fish-cooking and road racing.
Attracting the crowds, however, was the fish-catching competition which saw participation from four fishermen. As the boats docked at the Rockstone Landing, everyone rushed to get a glimpse of the fishes that were caught.
While some of the fishermen’s catch was enclosed in their coolers, two fishermen tried to balance their boats with two giant Loulou (fish) caught in the Essequibo River.
It was indeed a sight as many persons for the first time saw a giant fish, some six feet in length and weighing over 200 lbs.
Unfortunately, however, the giant fresh water un-scaled fishes could not be entered into the competition as it was revealed that the fishermen broke the rules as they did not catch the fishes during the stipulated time of 06:00hrs to 12:00hrs on Sunday.

HEATED ARGUMENT
The disagreement turned into a heated argument among the judges and the fishermen stood to their word that they did not break the rules and it was unfair to be disqualified from the competition.
Sarwan Kumar, who confidently defended his position, told reporters that he was being cheated.
“The fellow say they disqualify me saying that the Loulou (fish) catch since last night but we catch this Loulou this morning about 09:00 am,” Kumar said.

But the judges who looked at the giant Loulou (fish), saw evidence that the fishes were not fresh and went ahead with their disqualification.
A 15-year-old fisherman who journeyed from Lethem to take part in the competition suffered a similar fate. The young man, who was a first-time participant, was disqualified as several of his Lukananis were said to be iced and stale.
“I travelled from Lethem to Rockstone last night and I start fishing this morning, we catch this fish like 8 ‘o’ clock and now they saying that the fish stale, I feel bad and I won’t come back,” he said.
Many of the spectators rubbished the allegations saying that the judges were speaking without proof and should hire marshals to monitor the competitors.
President of the event Lynette Benn told media operatives that many of their main competitors dropped out of the competition because persons would fish long hours before the stipulated time and would still capture the winning prizes.
“This year we would have disqualified two of our competitors because we would have checked their catch and saw that they catch some of the fish the day before. We are asking the Government to come onboard and the relevant authorities to support this event so that we can have boats out there to pay marshals to go with every competitor so that we can have a more honest competition,” Benn posited.
Fisherman Sarwan Kumar walked away with the winning cash prize for the heaviest catch and the longest Pirai. There were also prizes for the longest Arawana, Lukanani and Haimara.

CHALLENGES

Benn also noted that there were a number of challenges in organising the event as it was not well supported.
While the association received much support from the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), it did not receive much support from the Ministry of Business.
The GTA, she said has remained supportive of the festival since its inception 11 years, along with members of the corporate community.
Benn called for more support to the festival next year, and echoing her sentiments was GTA Director General, Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh.
He congratulated the Rockstone Fish Festival Association for organising the signature event for the past 11 years and encouraged them to put early preparations in place to make the event bigger and better.
According to him, Rockstone has the potential to boost fishing tourism since the little community produces stocks ranging from aquarium fish to scarce fresh water fish.
“It brings and drive the demand for local tourism so persons can leave their home and come here in this community to spend money and that is why I encourage always Rockstone to do the Fish Festival more than once a year so that it can encourage domestic tourism so that more persons can leave their home and travel from the various parts of Guyana,” Singh said.
He said the Rockstone Fish Festival has the potential to become a premier event in Guyana and the GTA will continue to support the festival’s organising committee.
In addition to the competitions and the entire family-oriented party atmosphere that was created, patrons spoke of enjoying the boat rides to Gluck Island and the rich flora and fauna of Rockstone.

“The boat ride was amazing, the feeling of being on the waves of the mighty Essequibo, gazing at the surrounding scenery, the children playing on the tree swings, the children bathing in the river, is something I don’t see every day and I would definitely want to experience again,” said one visitor from Georgetown.
A British tourist Genevieve De Abreau, who was sipping on a cold Banks Beer, said Rockstone can be her holiday destination.

“It just have this feeling of the beautiful scenes, watching the fish roast on an open fire, smelling the clean atmosphere and of course enjoying my beer while preparing for a bath in the river… nothing can beat this,” she said.
“The community of Rockstone is waiting for anyone wanting to come,” one resident said, adding: “We are hospitable people and we welcome anyone to our village, not only for the festival but every single day.”