The Coastguard said its ability to help protect fishermen from pirate attacks is severely hampered by lack of communication and the acquisition of a vessel tracking system would boost its response to piracy calls.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, Coastguard Commanding Officer Geoffrey George told members of the Rosignol and Number 66 Village Fishing Co-ops that the communication requirement is important to the fight against piracy and is a better option than the high cost of running a 24-hour patrol.
He said it would “…enable us to plan and respond in a timely manner to any report that is made… what we have been realizing over the past months is that by the time we actually receive a report, the pirates would have long gone to another area… during 2007 and 2008 we were able to arrest the situation and gained some success in Berbice.” George said that they were able to strike in Essequibo as well. He also said that among the recommendations to strengthen communication was a vessel tracking system which would boost the response to piracy calls.
According to GINA, the groups met Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud and Chief Fisheries Officer Vivek Joshi as well. The meeting followed several other discussions held with the fisheries department, the Guyana Police Force and Coastguard concerning strengthening the anti-piracy campaign. At the meeting held on Saturday several concerns were raised pertaining to law enforcement and the ministry’s role in this regard. The meeting heard that there were concerns about the lack of a prompt response by Berbice police to reports of piracy; the granting of bail to convicts; the inability of the fishing co-op to use their licensed firearms in Surinamese water; the ineffective functioning of the local Coastguard and cross-border cooperation between Guyana and Suriname.
The minister said while several options and recommendations have been made such as the use of Global Positioning System the onus is on the fishing co-ops to make such options a reality. “We can only provide the information and give the necessary security clearance if it is required but it’s whether the fishing co-ops want to invest in that type of technology which we would want to recommend,” Persaud said.
The problem of piracy has been ongoing for decades. In 2007 several interventions including a revolving fund were made. The fund is a financial mechanism whereby money was set aside to assist the fishing community in times of piracy. The community was responsible for supporting the fund which would in turn protect their activities. Persaud said since the fund was established only six fisher folks have taken advantage of the mechanism.
Additionally, government has been working with the Coastguard and had committed $15 million for the establishment of a communications network to strengthen the link between the fishing co-op, the Coastguard and the police for a rapid response. The minister said under this plan the fishing community was tasked with buying individual handsets for the system to become fully operational. However, not all of the fishermen had lived up to this commitment.
The fishing co-ops were also given assistance in the area of monitoring and patrol with two boats and engines for the Berbice and Essequibo co-ops. Also, through the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Piracy Act was revised to make piracy a non-bailable offence.
There are boat thieves/raiders/pirates living right next to the G.C.G HQ, and they can’t/won’t stop them. All the marine law enforcement authorities in Guyana have a very good idea,about this racket since this a decades old enterprise. Schupps, this is just a play for budget money!! I say to Central Government Promise the G.C.G / marine police money for their new ‘toys’ if they catch 3 pirates and I bet you they will catch 6 in 24 hours with the booty.
The fishing business has grown over the years and is an important source of employment and foriegn currency earner for Guyana, so we need to protect the fishermen and safeguard the industry at all cost, get whatsover equippement is needed ,since we must not only think for the present but also for the future.
That is exactly what I was saying. Simple radios sets will not get the job done because the pirates will simply steal the radios too.
They need to get with the Garmin company to make gps transmitters that can be embedded into the outboard engines. These GPS systems software can set up grid fences where the Harbor police can monitor all vessels within the fence. Any vessel leaving the fence area will be intercepted.
The fishing folks do not know about this technology. It is the government who need to set up a trial system and expand on that.
Joe.
Joe, you are always sharing some great ideas and I really respect that but its like throwing water on ( DUCK BACK ) the various departments in the government are not paying any attention to the citizens.
Remember the song who is going to body guard the body guard.
They are looking into having the coast guards do their duties but there is a big but here and I mean that, recently coast guards killed two people and a child is missing in Essequibo so do you think that we can or should trust them. These guys are aware that the stuff these fishermen carry is worth a lot of money and they would become pirates themselves and rob these hard working men…;agree or agree to disagree,lol,lol
These coast gurads should be on the water 24 hours a day and they should have different shifts and make sure that they protect these fishermen not rob them okay…..another thing is they should make sure they carry high-power weapons because these people are carrying more dangerous weapons that the police and soldiers combined…..agree or agree to disagree. Joe keep sharing your thoughts and hopefully that one day they would adhere to your thoughts and sincere concern.
Communication on the ground in all fishing areas is important in pinpointing pirate lairs.It is also advisable to arm fishermen to defend themselves against pirates.