“This report is damningsays Léonard Raghnauth, president of the regional fisheries committee. We knew that we were facing an overproduction of pirate fishing in our territory, but this study confirms it. » The document, published on 16 September, is the most comprehensive study carried out in Guyana on illegal fishing originating from neighbouring countries (Brazil, Suriname and Guyana) for more than thirty years. Funded by the State at the request of local stakeholders, it was carried out jointly by the Committee on Fisheries, the French Institute for Research on the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). “We had access to all the data on the State’s action at sea from 2019 to 2023: army overflights, reports of controls on the high seas, satellite data”says Fabian Blanchard, regional delegate for Ifremer. The researchers also used eleven flyovers built by the WWF.
According to the report, “The number of days at sea for illegal foreign vessels has doubled in the last decade”. Thus, from 2009 to 2011, the fishing effort of illegal vessels in the 12 nautical mile zone was an average of 5,336 days at sea per year, according to a 2012 Ifremer study. From 2019 to 2023, the annual average is 10,914 days at sea. “The production of illegal vessels would represent on average between 0.7 and 4 times the production of legal vessels, depending on weak and strong hypotheses”the researchers specify. “Approximately 75% of the net lengths found in inspection reports are longer than the 2.5 kilometres required for French vessels”the report continues.
For the Fisheries Commission, the phenomenon is underestimated. “The report does not take into account illegal boats hiding in the mangroves, those that fish at night, or even the length of nets with smaller meshes.”Léonard Raghnauth lists the fish. The pressure falls first on the weak fish stocks, mainly because of their swim bladder, an organ that allows the fish to float. Sold for more than 150 euros per kilo in Suriname or Brazil, the bladders are then exported dried to Asia, where their value soars, due to the health benefits attributed to them. “Given the level of illegal fishing, we will end up with an overexploited population that is ultimately at risk of declining dramatically if the situation continues.”Fabian Blanchard is concerned.
“Increase resources”
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