US commits to reviewing ban on catfish from Guyana

…Guyanese in US to now get gillbacker

The United States has committed to reviewing the current ban on catfish imports from Guyana, which was imposed back in 2017 under the David Granger-led coalition Administration.

This was announced by US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, during a joint press conference with President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali on Friday at State House. Pompeo was on a two-day visit in Guyana, where he held discussions with the Irfaan Ali-led Government on a number of areas to further deepen bilateral relations between the two countries.
During an engagement on Thursday night, President Ali discussed the catfish ban with the US Secretary of State given the fact that the product is mostly consumed by Guyanese residing in America – its largest diaspora.
“I raised with Secretary Pompeo the need to revisit the current export restriction placed on wild-caught catfish, a product which is a great demand in the Guyanese diaspora. This market is very important not only for our export earning but also for the sustenance of the livelihood of the fishing communities,” the Head of State said.
In response, Secretary Pompeo noted that with the two Governments working to increase trade and foreign direct investments here, he is positive there will be a good outcome on the ban.
“The President mentioned catfish; I used to catch catfish when I was a young man,” he noted while adding that “one great thing is that we’re getting the information that’s needed. 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,” Secretary Pompeo asserted.
In September 2017, the US imposed a ban on catfish imports from Guyana after the then APNU/AFC Government failed to put systems in place for the local fishing industry to comply with new standards set by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The US Government had said that it notified Guyana of the changes since November 2015 – more than 18 months before the ban took effect. However, while most countries in the hemisphere complied with the regulations, Guyana failed to adhere to them.
This resulted in the US giving an extension until February 2018 to comply but over two years had elapsed under the coalition Administration and the situation remained unfixed.
In the meantime, the local fisherfolk have lost a viable income-earning stream and have been facing financial constraints.

Welcome announcement
Nevertheless, new Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha is elated with the announcement that the issue will be resolved soon. He lamented that the local fishing industry has severely been affected by the ban hence it was a priority of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration to address this issue.
“I am happy that the Secretary of State mentioned that they will be reviewing our submissions in terms of the regulations and the rules, and hopefully we can get the ban lifted. As we know, this is a $1.8 billion industry and over the last three years, our fisherfolks have been suffering a lot,” the Minister said on Friday.
Mustapha went on to echo the sentiments of President Ali that the catfish exports to the United States are intended to target the large Guyanese diaspora there.
“I am very optimistic that we can have this ban lifted… In Guyana, we are doing it very differently than in the United States because we are capturing these catfish in the wild, rather in the United States – they are rearing it and feeding it and sell to the US markets. So hopefully, after the revision of our submission, hopefully, we can get this ban lifted,” he asserted.
According to the new USDA regulations, Guyana must be able to catch catfish and transport it to a processing plant while it is alive.
Currently, the practice here is that the fish is caught, disembowelled and the carcass is iced until it reaches the shore. (G8)