Guyana’s fishing industry has played an integral role in the development of Guyana’s agricultural sector and continues to do so.
Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha on Sunday, met with fishermen in D’Edward village, on the West Coast of Berbice to address their concerns.
The minister also presented several high-powered LED lights to the Three Door Fishermen Co-op Society.
Minister Mustapha, in his brief address at the simple handing over ceremony, said the PPP/C administration continues to fulfil all of its promises.
“The last time I was here to meet with the fishermen…they asked for some lights and I made a commitment that I will bring the seven lights that they needed and these are high powered lights to brighten the avenue going in and coming out so that in the nights, they say normally thieves are usually harbouring around…so I hope that this will prevent, not all the illegal activities, but at the same time it will make the place brighter to see what is going on,” the minister said.
Minister Mustapha also stressed the importance of the fishing industry in regional and national development.
“The fishing industry is one of the most important industries for us and we will continue as a government to support the fishing industry because the fisheries department contributes a lot to foreign exchange,” he highlighted.
Further, the minister acknowledged the current ‘low catch’ issue that fishermen across the country have expressed grave concern about, and assured that the ministry is working assiduously to rectify what has proven to be an international issue.
“As I am speaking here, we have…a number of officers within the ministry and other agencies looking to see why we are having the low catches so that we can have an answer to those things. But that is not only in Guyana, we are seeing around the world we are seeing low catches, and we have to analyse what is causing it and we are working to see how we will resolve it,” he explained.
The minister also assured the co-op society that the ministry, within two months, will address the lack of sanitary facilities within the area, as they have been without these facilities for many years.
“I want to pledge this afternoon that we will build a sanitary facility for both males and females so that you will not go to different parts of the place to use when nature calls,” he assured.
Minister Mustapha reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting the fishing industry, and to continue to care about the livelihoods of Guyanese in all the economic sectors.
