While there is strong demand from overseas markets in the United States and Europe, there are opportunities for local seabob operators to tap unmet domestic demand, a recent study in Guyana conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) highlighted.
Guyana was among the first five of 12 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) nations analysed by the global fish value chain development programme, FISH4ACP. Implemented by FAO, this initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) focuses on making fisheries and aquaculture value chains more productive and sustainable, with an emphasis on supporting women given their crucial role in fish value chains – the whole process of adding value to the product.
Under a 10-year development strategy for the healthy future of Guyana’s seabob shrimp value chain, which was endorsed by Guyanese operators in May 2022, the FAO’s FISH4ACP Project has completed an assessment report in which it highlighted, among other things, ways of promoting artisanal or traditional fisheries.
Among the key opportunities the report outlines is the strong domestic demand for fresh seabob that can be sold to restaurants and supermarkets. This opportunity, it noted, can be tapped by artisan or traditional fishing operators.
“Consumer surveys suggest that there is untapped demand for seabob in Guyana, as consumers sometimes cannot find seabob products on the market when looking for them. Although seabob unavailability, or unreliability of supply, is largely due to the declining catch… various value-adding opportunities exist for artisanal actors (including fishers, processors and market vendors) to better tap into the unmet domestic demand,” the report stated.
These potential options include increasing and improving the quality of cleaning, peeling, and storing seabob to provide consumers with higher-quality and thus, higher-value products, and to enter higher-value markets such as supermarkets and the hospitality industry such as hotels and restaurants.
This is one of two marketing strategies that were highlighted in the report for the local industrial and artisanal channels.
With regard to industrial operators, the report highlighted that there continued to be high demand from the US and European markets for more high-value seabob, which can be better capitalised on if the biological stock issues can be addressed and bigger shrimps can be caught.
“Given that the United States of America and the European Union are currently the two most important export markets for Guyanese seabob – and demand remains strong – they will continue to be the main export target markets for the Guyanese seabob industry in the future,” it further detailed.
According to the report, owing to the stringent market requirements, such as Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification and the small amount of seabob captured by artisanal fishers, these major export markets are cannot be the target markets for the artisanal operators – at least for the next decade. It is for this reason that the report underscores the considerable potential for artisanal operators in the domestic market.
According to the report, more in-depth studies are necessary to validate both the export and domestic markets’ potential and opportunities identified, and to discover the opportunities that were overlooked owing to the unavailability of data, and resource and time constraints.
Nevertheless, given the large number and central role of operators in the artisanal channel, especially artisanal Chinese seine fishers and market vendors, they are the core actors with the most potential as a leverage point to improve the sustainability of fishing practices, improving product quality and enhancing women’s participation in the value chain (VC).
On the other hand, the three industrial firms – Pritipaul Singh Investments (PSI), Noble House Seafoods (NHS), and Gopie Investments Inc (GII) – are the leverage point for VC improvement interventions.
According to the report, the natural environment in Guyana is generally supportive of the value chain operations. However, it noted that the increase of sargassum seaweed since 2011 is reported to have changed the availability and distribution of fisheries resources and caused difficulties for fishers to access seabob resources.
This is further compounded by climate change, mainly characterised by changing rainfall patterns, which may affect the abundance and recruitment of seabob and in turn affect fishing operations, particularly artisanal Chinese seine fishers who rely on tides to capture seabob.
The FAO report stated that more research is needed to understand the impacts of these natural elements on seabob resources in particular, and the broader ecosystems in general.
