Dear Editor,

I wish to refer to an article in the Stabroek News of the July 1, 2010, captioned ‘Sport fishing to be reeled in’ and a letter by Dr Bud Mangal also in the Stabroek News on July 2, 2010, captioned ‘Most sport fishers respect the protected areas.’

Like Dr Mangal I can only respond to what was written in the article. I agree with most of Dr Mangal’s views but would like to register some additional concerns of mine.

I have travelled the length and breadth of Guyana doing sport fishing, ie, hook and line fishing. The regular belief is that one can fish every day, 12 months of the year. This is not the case. If the water is too high or too low, sport fishing takes a licking. Thus, we are left with only two months in any given year to do sport fishing. Further, these trips are fairly expensive and have no commercial basis. It takes luck to get a bite and skill to land a fish, where at least the fish is given a chance to escape.

My 50 years of traversing Guyana’s rainforest and waterways doing sport fishing, convinced me that if we want to get serious about fish conservation we should seriously examine coastlanders who set up camps along the waterways and use gill nets that trap all species of mammals, reptiles and fishes, including freshwater turtles and the protected Arapaima. These gill nets span the width of the river blocking the path of every living creature. This must stop.

Mining camps multiply this problem. There are now thousands of mining camps in our forest and if each camp uses two pieces of gill net one can imagine the destruction and degradation that this fishing practice causes to our biodiversity and ecology. How did miners survived before gill netting was introduced in Guyana?

Finally, most people are not aware that most of our freshwater species of fish, in addition to mammals are contaminated with mercury in some areas.

This places the population at great risk when they consume these species. A WWF study conducted in two areas some time ago in the interior confirmed this fact.

I think a careful study should be done to determine the effects of gill net fishing and mercury contamination in our freshwater rivers, creeks and lakes. Banning sport fishing which many Guyanese enjoy with their friends from overseas for only two months in the year is like putting a ban on the Ministry of Trade and Tourism.

Yours faithfully,
Ronald Deen