Even as Guyana mulls alternative options to having the export market for catfish (Siluriformes) to the United States reopened, authorities here are currently awaiting a follow-up technical meeting with the US Food Safety and Inspection Service (US FSIS).
Guyana last year submitted a revised report to the US FSIS and in November had a technical meeting to review the amended report. However, the meeting was not completed and the parties agreed to meet at a later date.
The catfish ban was included in the bilateral trade discussions between Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud, and Director for the Caribbean at the Office of the United States Trade Represen-tative, Braeden Young, when they met earlier this week.
According to a release from the Office of the Foreign Secretary, the restriction on Guyana’s export of Siluriformes (catfish) to the US was discussed among other topics during an engagement at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.
Other matters such as, the optimization of trade between the two countries under the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), and the resuscitation of the Council on Trade and Investment formed under the US-CARICOM Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), were also a part of the discussions.
Officials from the Ministry of Tourism Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, representatives from the Private Sector Commission (PSC), the American Chamber of Commerce Guyana (AmCham), and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), also participated in the meeting.
Recognising the importance of regaining the US market and its contribution to the local economy, President Irfaan Ali had repeatedly stated that his government is committed to having the ban lifted.
Stabroek News was informed that among the approaches being taken to achieving the objective in consideration of alternative measures that will pave way for the tapping into the export market, is investment in farm raised Siluriformes.
Such a move, eliminates the health and safety concerns of wild caught catfish and promotes healthy fish raised in controlled environment before harvesting and processing. It would give exports an advantage into marketing the product in different countries.
Consideration is also being given to the hiring of a technical consultant from the US authorities or through regional bodies to hire a consultant to move the process forward.
The idea of utilising the US regulations, which support exports for personal consumption of quantities not exceeding 50 pounds was also floated as a short term alternative to keep the trade alive.
As the government continues to pursue the lifting of the ban on the exports, Stabroek News gathered that a number of measures have taken so far to become complaint with US regulations.
As of recent, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was tasked with conducting water sampling and analysis exercises to verify the water quality in the marine space where Siluriformes are caught, meet international standards for the protection of human health and the physical environment. Water samples were taken from within artisanal fishing zones 1 to 6 along Guyana’s coast and compared against USEPA Water Quality Criteria for Aquatic Life.
Under the regulations, the US requires testing of the water where fishes are caught, but because Guyana’s fishes are wild-caught this testing is difficult. Nonetheless, efforts are being made for the formulation a document that will outline procedures for testing the marine space. Meetings were also being held with the Pesticide and Toxic Chemicals Control Board (PTCCB) to discuss capacity for testing the marine water.
The ban which has been in effect for almost five years, has forced ‘gilbaka’ export businesses to downsize since they can no longer access the US/New York market. Prior to the ban, it had been lucrative due to the large Guyanese population in the metropolis.
Exporting countries were required by the US FSIS to provide documentation to verify that their inspection system was equivalent to US standards. However, Guyanese exporters were unable to do since most of the requirements were not in place when the ban took effect.
Many fishing businesses and exporters however turned to exporting to Toronto, Canada, but with a comparatively small market, the demand is not there.
In 2021, Ali during his address to the American Chamber of Commerce’s (AmCham) annual general meeting, called for the body to champion the removal of the ban.
He posited that the body must not only promote and hail US businesses entering the Guyanese market but also seek to help small Guyanese businesses in being able to overcome hurdles in the US market.
“Whilst I’ve seen great aggression in you championing the cause of American businesses here, which we appreciate, we need the same aggression in championing our cause. You should be in the forefront of ensuring that our catfish and our ‘gilbaka’ get back on the American market,” Ali urged.
The ban on the trade was also discussed at the level of former United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit here in 2020. He at that time had given a commitment that the two countries would revisit the current export restriction on wild-caught catfish.
“We’ll work with you. We’ll put it through the US regulatory process and the WTO (World Trade Organisation) review process, and I’m confident we can get a good outcome,” Pompeo had said.
Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha just after taking office in 2020, committed to the resumption of the trade.
He had said that bilateral talks have been continuous. The talks had advanced and the fisheries department was preparing several documents to submit to the US authorities for review. The documents requested pertain to the processing and storage method for the fish after being caught, among other issues.
Mustapha earlier this year had explained that the Guyanese methodology of harvesting catfish is different from the US standards and as such they will have to put forward their case.
Capturing
“In Guyana, we are doing it very differently than in the United States because we are capturing these catfish in the wild rather [than] in the United States [where] they are rearing it and feeding it and selling it in in the markets. We are hoping that after this revision of our submission, hopefully, we can get this ban lifted,” he had said.
The minister noted too that his position has not changed from when he took office and he is still committed to having the export of catfish resumed.
The United States imposed a ban on catfish imports from Guyana and other non-compliant countries in September of 2017.
Guyana has fallen short of the US standards in three areas: (1) the presence of inspectors; (2) insufficient documentation detailing verification of each step in the sanitation and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP); and (3) insufficient documentation specifying how the industry manages adulterated (tainted) catfish products.
With the ban on the trade, the price for catfish species, specifically `gilbaka’, dropped significantly to $200 to $300 per pound in contrast to the $800 to $1000 it fetched when it was being exported to the United States.
In 2015, FSIS amended its regulations to establish a mandatory inspection programme for fish of the order Siluriformes and products derived from these species.
The amendment was the result of a 15-year battle by the Catfish Farmers of America (CFA) to curtail catfish imports from Vietnam. The US government had previously passed the 2008 and 2014 Farm Bills, which amended the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), to make “catfish” a species amenable to the FMIA, and therefore, subject to FSIS inspection, before removing the term “catfish”, so as to make “all fish of the order Siluriformes” subject to FSIS jurisdiction and inspection.
The 2015 standards, which became effective on March 1, 2016, demand the presence of inspectors in (processing) plants for one hour during an eight-hour shift. According to the USDA website, though the standards became effective in 2016, a transitional period was granted before full enforcement commenced on September 1, 2017.
The US Embassy here had said that Guyana was notified since November 2015 of the steps that needed to be taken to avoid a ban on the export of catfish to the United States.
