By Tusika MartinThe fisheries sector in Guyana does not enjoy the same priority as the sugar and rice industries, thus not benefiting as much as the other sectors.This is according to Les Romalho of the Guyana Fisheries Advisory Committee, who was, yesterday, part of a regional panel that discussed the uncertainties surrounding the future of sustainable commercial fishing in the Caribbean region.The discussion was centered on ‘Caribbean Fisheries: Sinking or Swimming in Uncertain Waters.’Like Romalho, Consultant of the Fisheries Advisory Committee, Rueben Charles also expressed the same sentiments, noting that it is the general consensus among fisheries persons that they are given excuses for such phenomena.“With the problems we face with climate change, we are hoping to see greater efforts going into fisheries.And with the problems we face in terms of depletion of certain stocks, we will certainly have to address more issues in fisheries,” Charles told the panel yesterday.In response to the comments to the panel, Guyana’s Chief Fisheries Officer, Nigel Dharamlall, said that it has been recognised that resources in the Third World are very limited and that the efforts being placed on all sectors need to be at a level of equilibrium.Having recognised that, he said, steps have been taken to move forward to greater investments in fisheries sector.Those investments, Dharamlall said, began with the institutional revolution of the sector with the enforcement of the Fisheries Advisory Act 2002.Over the past two years Guyana has prepared a number of other strategic documents including the Fisheries Management Plan,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, Arapaima Management Plan and Aquaculture Strategy.“For us, the sector is much more than just the marine aspect of it; there is great potential in the other areas…A significant component of fisheries for us in Guyana would be aquaculture…It is designated as one of the competitive areas of development for our country.”Whilst Guyana is making progress in other aspects of the fisheries sector, efforts are being taken to move towards greater investments in aquaculture.“Regarding the marine aspects of it, we have begun through the establishment of the fisheries advisory committee, an approach to revolutionize the sector, but foremost we need to be building capacity within the sector to serve the industry,” Dharamlall said.The country’s institutional arrangements and capacity related issues within the fisheries department are being examined with a view of transforming the fisheries department from within the Ministry of Agriculture to a semi-autonomous agency in the near future, he said.Another issue that was raised during the discussion was the fact that local fishermen are concerned that with the implementation of the CRFM, foreign fishermen and processors will be allowed into the country, thus skimping them of opportunities.Deputy Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), Milton Haughton, in addressing this issue, said that from the beginning it was recognised that this issue needs to be handled carefully.“The arrangement that was being discussed is essentially that if any access is allowed it would only be to surplus resources or to harvest unexploited resources.”This will be done in countries where the local fishermen are not interested in a particular species or are not using a particular species, he noted.Haughton added that in the region there is significant ocean space and there is a need to find ways in developing and using this for fish production in order to support the people and enable socio-economic development.“In 2003, our governments mandated that we develop a common fisheries policy and regime to ensure that we have a regional framework consistent with the initiative to establish a single market and economy.”Through this framework the vision is to be able to fully develop and use the potential of the marine and other aquatic resources to provide employment, generate foreign exchange, and to provide food and nutrition for people, among other things, he said.“Our countries at the highest political level recognised the value and importance and the potential of marine and coastal resources that we have available. However, it is a challenge to put in place the policies and also implementing those policies.”
