The Government says it is preparing to add additional patrols along this country’s western river spaces to combat piracy and other security threats and a meeting is being planned with local fisherfolk to discuss equipping their vessels with affordable satellite-tracking devices.
“All issues of piracy are of great concern to us. The protecting of life and the assets of the fishing folk are some of our prime concerns. The issue of GPS (global positioning system)and AIS (Automatic Identification System ) will ensure also that we are within our sovereign areas and will also aid search and rescue responses, in addition to monitoring activity [on the sea],” Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn told Stabroek News yesterday.
“There is an intention to meet with them [fisherfolk] …and efforts are currently underway to strengthen the maritime assets and to improve the deployment and alertness of the manpower of the security,” he added.