The Ministry of Agriculture will be conducting Monitoring Control and Surveillance (MCS) activities within Guyana’s marine fisheries sector.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture, personnel from the Fisheries Department, the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard and the Guyana Police Force Coast Guard will be visiting landing sites throughout the coast as well as conducting inspections to ensure that all operators of fishing vessels within the marine fisheries sector are in compliance with the laws of Guyana.
The release stated that the activities aim to reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities, to increase the number of vessels licensed on an annual basis, to ensure that the industrial fleet is in compliance with the necessary regulations, and to gather information that would be useful in the fight against piracy.
According to the release, Part III, section 9 (1) of the Fisheries Act “Registration of Fishing Vessels Local and Foreign” stated “After thirty days from the commencement of this Act, every owner of a local fishing vessel which is used or intended to be used for fishing in the fisheries waters, shall, before such vessel is put to sea, be the holder of a valid certificate of registration in respect of such fishing vessel.” While Part IV Section 13 (1) Local Fish Licence states “No local fishing vessel shall be used for fishing or related activities in the fisheries waters without a valid licence issues under this section in respect of that vessel.”
Guyana’s marine fisheries sector fishing fleet is divided into three main sub-categories, the industrial, semi-industrial and artisanal fishing fleets, the release stated. The industrial fleet contains trawler vessels which are required by law to be fitted with Turtle Excluder Devices and By-catch Reduction Devices. The semi industrial fleet targets mainly pelagic species such as the red snapper and the grouper and comprises of a local fleet of 58 registered vessels and 20 Venezuelan vessels. There is an estimated amount of 1500 locally constructed wooden vessels in the artisanal fleet.
According to the release, while 100% of the industrial fleet is licensed on an annual basis, only 35 or 60% of the semi-industrial vessels and 450 or 30% of the artisanal vessels on the register are licensed annually. The MCS operations will seek to verify these figures and remove non-operational vessels from the register.
