– but vow to do whatever necessary to make ends meet

VENDORS of fish and other aquatic foods are a key part of Guyana’s food system, and on any given day, but particularly on weekends, the fish markets and fish depots are abuzz as large numbers of persons usually flock those areas to purchase fresh fish.

However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has had on the country’s economy, as well as the health measures that have been put in place to counter its spread, fish vendors for the last three months have suffered a grave loss of income, and are now adjusting to the new norm of life.
One such vendor is Rashon Felix, who has been plying his trade at the Stabroek Market for over six years, and he admitted that he has experienced some difficulties making a living with his fishing business amid the pandemic.

“Not too bad, but you know, it’s not too good either, but I still have to try with it because everybody gotta live,” he said when asked by the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday how he’s been faring over the last few months.

Felix, who usually goes out to sea to snare catch his own catch, noted that for the last three months, business has been slow, and as such he has had to ‘hustle’ even harder to provide for himself and family amid the health crisis.

Bertie Skeete, who has been on the Stabroek Market for six years, stated that he, too, would go out to sea to catch his own fish, but due to personal reasons and the coronavirus pandemic, he has been unable to do so.

“You know, with the COVID-19 and the elections,” Skeete said, “some days everything run nice, and some days it’s dry. It’s not like before right now; it slow up.”

Nevertheless, the man noted that he’s now taken to purchasing fish from other vendors and selling them back, just to make ends meet for him and his family.

Patrick told the Guyana Chronicle that he had not been on the market since March, and had only ventured out that day to try his luck in hopes of making a sale.

He stated that he’d closed shop after Guyana recorded its first coronavirus case back in March, and that he was even more reluctant to return to the market due to the current political impasse.

The man, who is famously known on the market for having some of the best ‘cat fish’ in the business, said, “I stayed off the market because of the COVID-19, but surprisingly, today was a good day for me. Business today is as per normal, but because of the COVID-19 and elections, right now, people are not coming… But because a lot of foreigners come back, they coming to buy.”

Another vendor, Nazima Khan noted that the last three months have been brutal for her, but she has been making the best of the situation.

Khan, who has been working in the market for some 20 years, noted that the current pandemic has been her most difficult experience in her vending life, however, she placed her health first, and would only work once or twice a week.

“For the last three months, everything was slow. Because of the COVID-19, people ain’t coming out and buy, so sometimes I would only come two times a week or one,” the woman said.