Dear Editor,
FOR months now Kaieteur News and others parading as “environmentalists” have been hammering on that because of Guyana’s fledgling oil-and-gas industry, the commercial fishing industry is suffering. It would be remiss of me not to mention from the onset that Kaieteur News is known for its radical, unsubstantiated and outright sensational reporting, just to sell copies. Additionally, these “environmentalists” are preying on the hard-working people of this country by presenting nonsense as facts.

Over the weekend, the newspaper boldly pronounced that ExxonMobil themselves have admitted that because of offshore activities this could impact the fishing industry. In fact, one of the stories states as follows, “Guyana has been producing oil since December 2019, and during that course of time there has been a significant decline in the domestic fishing industry…” Kaieteur News has even claimed that the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) states as much. However, when one reads carefully what is contained with those EIAs that Kaieteur News is relying on to peddle this nonsense, it clearly states that in the case of an oil spill the consequence could be detrimental to the fishing industry. There is nothing contained within to substantiate the claim by Kaieteur News and the others that the regular day-to-day activities offshore Guyana is impacting the fishing industry.

Editor, the claim that oil-and-gas activities contribute to the reduction of fish catches, is one that has been around since the 1940s. As a result of that age-old claim by fishermen, numerous countries have conducted a myriad of studies to ascertain whether the claim holds any merit. All the studies I have read concluded that the claim is without merit.

A study conducted and published by Ingebert Gausland in 2003, titled: “Seismic Surveys Impact on Fish and Fisheries,” clearly debunks this ludicrous argument. The report addressed studies done in: Norway, three (3) Norwegian studies to be precise, Scotland, Faroe Islands and Australia. In all the above studies there was no evidence to support the claim that oil activities resulted in the decline of fish catches. In fact, the study conducted in Scotland in 2001 by Wardle et al, found that “Bangs did not chase fish away, but they did cause an involuntary, sudden bending of the body, or C-starts.” Editor, I can go on for pages quoting studies done by world-renowned, award-winning scientists to prove my point. However, I believe the point is well made.

Nevertheless, armed with all this information and more, the Government of Guyana did not take the news of lower catches and sat down idly. The Minister of Agriculture conducted numerous consultations and even had an independent study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to ascertain the cause of the decline of fish catches. It was found that climate change was responsible for the same. Further, studies conducted by other countries have come to the same conclusion. “Climate change and the rise in sea-surface temperature is [sic] changing the nature of oceans, which in turn affects the phytoplankton production, a primary food for several fish in the ocean and this is causing a decline of fish catch.”

I hope we can put this matter to bed once and for all. The constant barrage by Kaieteur News and these “environmentalists” that oil activities is the determining factor for the decline of fish catch is just preposterous. They have produced no evidence whatsoever to substantiate that claim.

Yours sincerely,
Roodi Balgobin, MBA