-fined $US100 each for lack of passports

By Nafeeza Yahya
FORTY-FIVE Guyanese fishermen were arrested by Surinamese soldiers and face possible deportation early next year unless a fine of US $100 each is paid.
Chairman of the Upper Corentyne Fishermen Co-op Society, Pameshwar Jainarine, told the Guyana Chronicle that the men were detained between Sunday and Wednesday last and the 45 men detained were the crew from nine boats.

The men were arrested for allegedly not having on their persons valid passports that show they were stamped to enter the country legally. Jainarine stated that the move by the Surinamese authorities will have a negative impact on the local fishing industry, since most of the men do not have passports. “Most of the fishermen are poor people…their parents did not register them at birth. When we make attempts to get them registered, they don’t have birth certificates.”

Jainarine further explained that after word of the arrests was spread, two men went with their boats to investigate and they were arrested as well. Jainarine lamented that the soldiers were from the Suriname capital Paramaribo and were not checking to determine whether the fishermen were licensed to fish in the Corentyne River as they would normally do; instead, their only interest was if the Guyanese had passports with a stamp of entry to Suriname.

“Traditional [sic], we have [been] fishing in these waters for about 50 years and we don’t normally take out passports to go fishing. You just go in the fishing boat which is registered and go out into the water,” Jainarine related. Jainarine explained that once granted licences to operate in Surinamese waters, the terms of the licences dictate that the boat and crew must purchase ice from Suriname and take their catch first to a port in the neighbouring state which is usually Nickerie, before returning to Guyana.

He further lamented that some of the boats detained on Sunday were on their way to Nickerie to purchase ice which is in keeping with the licence agreement and deemed the action by the soldiers as ‘’harassment.” “What they did is just harassment, because we have licences to fish in Suriname and what the Surinamese soldiers are asking for means the fishermen would have to board the Guyana/Suriname ferry, go over to Suriname, get their passports stamped and come back through the ‘back track’ route, then go out to sea to show they were granted a stay in the country.”

The Guyana chronicle understands that there are over 300 fishermen and 60 vessels still out at sea that ply their trade in Surinamese waters and the military patrols are on standby and most likely will charge them as well. The fishermen’s co-op society is calling on the relevant authorities to look into the incident and have a talk with the Surinamese authorities to come up with a plausible solution, noting that what is being asked for at the moment is very hard to achieve.