We now check if licensees actually have a boat and the necessary gear for fishing. There are situations where people use two boats with the same registration number and name for one licence,’ Breinburg says. One of the causes of the widespread corruption is that Suriname still has abundant fishing grounds compared to neighbouring countries and the region. Suriname’s licensing system avoids overfishing. Guyana faces this problem, which is the reason why its fishermen legally and illegally move to Suriname.
There have even been cases of illegal fishermen from Venezuela and Trinidad. As the Surinamese fishing industry is dominated by Guyanese, they take their catch to Guyana where they get much more due to the constant scarcity over there. Suriname does not earn a cent from its rightful share in this natural resource.
