FAO, WWF hand over fishing industry manuals, safety equipment to Agri Ministry

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) distributed several training and production manuals and safety equipment to the Agriculture Ministry on Friday to support the development of the country’s aquaculture industry.
The WWF-produced Guyana Marine Industry Management Plan (2022-2027) addresses several critical aspects within the fishing industry including illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, climate change and gender and inclusion within the fisheries sector, offering a number of objectives and actions that can be taken to ensure good management and sustainability.
“This management plan captures a number of areas that are important for the sector and its sustainability,” WWF Country Manager Aiesha Williams said.
“I say sustainability not only in terms of fish stocks but also in terms of income for fisherfolks and families and of contributing to the economy of Guyana…This is the motivation of our participation and supporting the development of this plan,” William said, adding that Guyana’s fisheries department played a vital role in putting together the plan.
The FAO-led Seabob Management Plan (2022-2027) and the Agriculture Ministry’s new Brackish Water Shrimp Production Manual comes after a recently released FAO study on the seabob value chain revealed that that there is an untapped demand for seabob in Guyana, with consumers sometimes unable to find products on the market, largely owing to declining catch.

“Today (Friday) we have been vindicated because there’s been a steep increase in catches, especially in the seabob industry,” Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said, highlighting the increase in monthly brackish water shrimp production from 10,000 kilograms to 90,000 kilograms and impending plans to begin prawn production.
The new manuals will complement the work that the Ministry has been doing over the last year to improve the fisheries sector.
“We’re hoping that [the Seabob Management Plan] will help to accelerate the implementation that is being seen on the ground particularly with the East Berbice-Corentyne Aquaculture Corp who are very instrumental in the work that’s being done here …and to extend it beyond just these areas,” said Gillian Smith, FAO representative.
Smith added that the organisation is working on efforts to increase productivity, feed formulations and water quality to better assist fisherfolk, with a particular focus on supporting the safety of small fishers at sea.
“For the fishing sector, the future is bright,” Mustapha said, adding that the Agriculture Ministry also plans to increase cage culture this year to about 50-75 cages around the country and improve the facilities of some 75 landing sites.
With production continuing to increase, the focus is now on helping fisherfolk to market their products, he said.
FAO and WWF also distributed safety equipment to several fishers at the handover.
With some 53 years of experience in the fishing industry, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) resident Sooknanan Takchand expressed his happiness at the progress being made to better support fishers in the country.
“I hope that we can work together so that we can better the fishing industry for all fishermen,” Takchand said.