US Ambassador D Brent Hardt says a US team will be collaborating with the Agriculture ministry to develop an inland fisheries management plan as it takes steps to widen Guyana’s eco-tourism product. He was speaking at a reception he hosted late last month for sport fishing enthusiasts, travel writers and other eco-tourism stakeholders.
A press release from the US Embassy said the new initiative which is coordinated by the United States Agency for International Development/Guyana Trade and Investment Support (USAID/GTIS) Project aims to bring together local government, US investors, the Amerindian Committee for Rewa and communities along the Rewa River to develop the plan to propel sport fishing as another tourism niche market where Guyana can compete effectively.
Hardt observed that the event “marks a major step in the development of a new ecotourism product for Guyana, one where Guyana has a competitive advantage because of the Arapaima and Guyana natural resources.” He further said that “this tourism product will help preserve an important part of Guyana’s biodiversity, provide livelihoods to the communities in the interior, and promote a sustainable economic activity, thereby helping diversify Guyana’s economy.”
In commenting on the ecological aspects of the activity, Hardt noted that the US team will be working with the Ministry of Agriculture and others to develop the necessary regulatory framework to allow for further development of sport fishing in a way that protects Guyana’s environment.
Vice President of Costa Sunglasses Inc Al Perkinson emphasised the group’s work with the Amerindian community and presented a film documenting the arapaima fishing trips in Guyana’s interior which they hope to show at the upcoming Sustainable Tourism Conference in Guyana and later on local television.
It will also be shown at conservation and environmental film festivals across the US this year.
The Embassy said partners in the sport fishing initiative include prestigious international private sector companies such as Costa Sunglasses Inc, Nervous Waters Fishing Lodges which manages fishing lodges worldwide, the International Game Fish Association, Rewa Eco Lodge, the Agriculture and Tourism ministries, Wilderness Explorers, Karanambu Ranch, Atta Rainforest Lodge and the North Rupununi District Development Board.
From March 20-28, USAID/GTIS, Costa Sunglasses Inc, Rewa Eco Lodge and Nervous Waters undertook a fourth trip to the interior of Guyana to further refine the design of the sport fishing experience.
A writer from a major outdoors publication Field and Stream Magazine joined the team. He will write the first part of a two-part story on fishing in Guyana. In addition, Dr Lesley de Souza of Auburn University, who completed her PhD on the Biology of the Arapaima, is looking at the science behind preserving the fish stocks in the Rupununi. To date, Costa and Nervous Waters have contributed about US$250,000 to the development of the sport-fishing product.
