Email correspondence sent from high officials in the Surinamese Government, to their Guyanese counterparts, reveals that Suriname had promised Guyana that the fishing licence for Guyanese to fish in Surinamese waters would have been issued on January 1, 2021.
In the email dated December 13, 2020, which was seen by this publication, Surinamese Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Prahlad Sewdien had written to Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, informing him that the fishing licences would be issued from January 1 of the next year and that they would try to have preparations completed within two weeks.
The email also acknowledged the list of fishermen that Mustapha had sent to Sewdien, while also suggesting various actions that should be taken to complete the process of issuing the licence, under Surinamese law.
These suggestions included having the fishermen register their vessels in their own name and the appointment of a State-owned company to be their business partner and sign a “vessel basing” agreement.
“This company will take care of the further registration of the vessels over here and also take care of the licenses by which your fishermen will pay just the normal fees. The company will also sign the purchase and other agreements needed with your fishermen,” the email stated.
Meanwhile, Sewdien had also promised to track down the Surinamese middlemen who had been renting licenses to Guyanese fishermen, at exorbitant prices. In the email, he asked Mustapha to have the fishermen mail copies of their licences.
“We would like to recognise the middlemen on whose names the licenses were issued. Ask the fishermen to mail a copy of the licenses of 2020 to my Director of Fisheries Mrs. Parveen Amritpersad, who is also included in this mail.”
“With that, it will be easier for us to trace the middlemen. These middlemen have registered the boats on their own names in the Fisheries Register at our Maritime Authority. We will have to get it changed,” Sewdien also said in the email.
In the past, the Surinamese opposition has pushed their Government for clarity on the issuance of the licence to Guyanese fishermen. It is understood that the issue was raised by Opposition Parliamentarian Melvin Bouva, in the Suriname National Assembly, on Tuesday.
The matter of Suriname’s harassment of Guyanese fishermen and the Dutch-speaking republic’s continued refusal to grant licences to them, has been a topical issue in recent times, that even escalated to the point where Guyana’s Ambassador in Suriname, Keith George, was summoned last month to a meeting with the Surinamese Foreign Minister, Krishna Mathoera, on this very issue.
Following the high-level meeting in Guyana during August 2021 between President Dr Irfaan Ali and Surinamese President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, the two leaders had issued a joint press statement indicating that the age-old issue of licences for Guyanese fisherfolk to operate in Suriname’s territorial waters would be addressed.
These fishermen operate from the Corentyne coast and have to use the Corentyne to get access to the Atlantic where they get most of their catch. The Corentyne River is considered Surinamese territory. Currently, the licences are issued to Surinamese businessmen at US$100 per year and rented to the Guyanese fisherfolk at US$3000 annually.
About 150 boats operate from the Number 66 Fisherman’s Co-op Society thus providing direct employment for about 800 fishermen. Additionally, some 200 persons are employed in providing services which include transportation, fish vending and repairs to machinery and equipment.
Guyana has already said that it will be bringing this matter before the Caribbean Community (Caricom), since Suriname is also a member state.
Moreover, Attorney General Anil Nandlall has also said that legal measures could be taken, if necessary, to get compensation for the fishing boats and equipment that Suriname had seized and subsequently sold.
And comments by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo that Surinamese businesses could be met with reciprocal treatment in Guyana, were met by the Surinamese Government pleading in a statement for all parties to await a diplomatic resolution of the issue.
