The Coastguard said its ability to help protect fishermen from pirate attacks is severely hampered by lack of communication and the acquisition of a vessel tracking system would boost its response to piracy calls.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, Coastguard Commanding Officer Geoffrey George told members of the Rosignol and Number 66 Village Fishing Co-ops that the communication requirement is important to the fight against piracy and is a better option than the high cost of running a 24-hour patrol.
He said it would “…enable us to plan and respond in a timely manner to any report that is made… what we have been realizing over the past months is that by the time we actually receive a report, the pirates would have long gone to another area… during 2007 and 2008 we were able to arrest the situation and gained some success in Berbice.” George said that they were able to strike in Essequibo as well. He also said that among the recommendations to strengthen communication was a vessel tracking system which would boost the response to piracy calls.
According to GINA, the groups met Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud and Chief Fisheries Officer Vivek Joshi as well. The meeting followed several other discussions held with the fisheries department, the Guyana Police Force and Coastguard concerning strengthening the anti-piracy campaign. At the meeting held on Saturday several concerns were raised pertaining to law enforcement and the ministry’s role in this regard. The meeting heard that there were concerns about the lack of a prompt response by Berbice police to reports of piracy; the granting of bail to convicts; the inability of the fishing co-op to use their licensed firearms in Surinamese water; the ineffective functioning of the local Coastguard and cross-border cooperation between Guyana and Suriname.
The minister said while several options and recommendations have been made such as the use of Global Positioning System the onus is on the fishing co-ops to make such options a reality. “We can only provide the information and give the necessary security clearance if it is required but it’s whether the fishing co-ops want to invest in that type of technology which we would want to recommend,” Persaud said.
The problem of piracy has been ongoing for decades. In 2007 several interventions including a revolving fund were made. The fund is a financial mechanism whereby money was set aside to assist the fishing community in times of piracy. The community was responsible for supporting the fund which would in turn protect their activities. Persaud said since the fund was established only six fisher folks have taken advantage of the mechanism.
Additionally, government has been working with the Coastguard and had committed $15 million for the establishment of a communications network to strengthen the link between the fishing co-op, the Coastguard and the police for a rapid response. The minister said under this plan the fishing community was tasked with buying individual handsets for the system to become fully operational. However, not all of the fishermen had lived up to this commitment.
The fishing co-ops were also given assistance in the area of monitoring and patrol with two boats and engines for the Berbice and Essequibo co-ops. Also, through the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Piracy Act was revised to make piracy a non-bailable offence.