The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday launched its Anti-Piracy Revolving Fund, designed to provide financial assistance to fishermen and boat owners who have suffered at the hands of high seas bandits.
Meanwhile, government has provided the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard with $15 million to set up a state-of-the-art communication system, which would allow for a more effective response in the event of a piracy attack.
This new system, which is being set up in the Berbice, will be ready in about two weeks. Fishermen will have to purchase radios at a cost of US$300.
Delivering the feature address at the launching at the Carifesta Sports Complex, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said there have been significant developments in the quest to deal with the piracy issue, which has been a problem for years.
He said piracy and pirates “have become part of our lives, in the region and other places”.
He spoke briefly of the collaborative efforts by his ministry the police and the Coast Guard to tackle this problem, adding that not much success had been achieved so far.
It is the plan that in time, the communication will be stretched to other parts of the country.
The minister said the fishing sector was a significant contributor to about 13,000 households and a major player in the economic development of the country.
He said that through collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, some materials used in the fishing industry were no longer attracting VAT.
He pointed out that all these developments clearly showed government’s commitment to support the sector stressing that collaboration was needed in order to combat piracy.
Persaud said the Revolving Fund, had been a vision for many years. He called on all fisher folk to make full use of it.The fund
Rennita Bentick, the fund’s administrator, said it was a non-profit one geared at helping fishermen get back on their feet following a piracy attack. She said the registration process would be done at the co-op societies, which are expected to play a vital role in its implementation. The plan is to evaluate the fishing outfit – boat, seine and engine – and then O.25% of its total cost would be calculated. This would represent the annual cost for registering the outfit. Bentick said this could be paid monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually.
All boat owners, whether or not they are members of a fisherman’s cooperative society, who consider themselves possible victims of piracy, could become members.
To register, boat owners must present a valid passport or national identification card; valid maritime administration licence and fisheries licence; proof of ownership of their outfit, valuation of the outfit by the co-op society and proof of address for those who are not members of a co-op society.
To claim assistance, a detailed report must be made at the nearest police station, following a piracy attack. The boat owner would then fill out a claim form within 48 hours after reaching ashore and after making the police report.
The communication system
This is likely to be up and running in Berbice in about two weeks. Coast Guard Commander, John Flores, said the system would eventually benefit the entire country.
The equipment has been acquired and would be installed from Number 66 Village Rosignol to Albion. However, fishermen must acquire radio sets, which with the help of government a distributor would be importing and reselling to fishermen. Flores said that without these radios, the system would not work effectively.
Rudolph King, the president of Tactical Commercial Equipment Sales Inc, who is importing the equipment, said that initially the equipment was to be installed at the police stations, but this changed to the fishing complexes at the request of the co-op societies.
King said the two pieces of communication equipment were a wristwatch fitted with GPS and a radio that floats. He called on all fishermen to stay on the correct frequency and use it only for emergencies.
Fishermen were pleased yesterday with the launching of the fund. Bhawise Harpaul, of the Upper Corentyne Fishermen’s Co-op Society said that on many occasions the members could not go back to work after an attack. He said his society recognised that government was doing its part and to do their part, each member would contribute one trout a month; the money from that would go to the fund.
