The Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture is yet to make any substantial progress in finalising discussions on the new regulations for the exportation of catfish, after a planned video conference last month did not happen.
Chief Fisheries Officer Denzel Roberts had explained last month that the inspection service only responded to documentation that was sent last week due to a delay that was created by the country’s federal shutdown.
He noted that they have since requested to have a teleconference by the end of the month, and then they will be able to know whether they have to submit anymore documents and how far they are from resuming exports.
However, Roberts told this newspaper last Thursday that they were unable to have the teleconference since the department was still waiting on the authority to review documentation that the department sent. He said when the authority contacts the department with enquiries, they would be able to make progress.
He was unable to provide a date when the department expects exports to resume or even to finalise the discussions, but noted that the sector is still being affected as exporters are unable to access the American market.
Earlier this year, Roberts had pointed out that the department had to set up a meeting with the Veterinary Public Health Department on changes in the regulations to reflect what the United States now requires.
“Those changes will have to be incorporated in the regulations and then [they] will be sent to the Attorney General’s Chambers to be approved. We should be meeting sometime this week to have a final look at the document before we agree and then send it to the AG’s Chambers and once they okay it, the minister should be able to approve it and then send it to the US,” he had said.
Roberts also noted that they were still working along with staff from the Attorney General’s Chambers to finalise the document.
“They had sent back some things last year. They had sent back the shortcomings and we would’ve responded to that and they took about two months before they replied. And apparently there was a new team that sent more questions,” he stated.
Roberts also pointed out that the US is asking that the catfish are live at the time they arrive at processing plants, which he said is unlikely in Guyana’s case, since the fish are caught wild here, as opposed to being harvested from ponds like in the United States.
“The US catfish industry is quite different from ours. They are farm raised and so when they are caught in the pond they are taken to the processing plant and they deal with the catfish. So one of their questions is how do we ensure it is not dead before it reaches there. In this scenario of a farm catfish, that is practical. However, ours are wild-caught and iced there and brought to the plant to further process. It is things like that we have to work through,” he said, while noting that the department is currently trying to work around the issue and will have to show the US authorities how the catfish industry operates in Guyana and that adequate inspections are done.
Roberts was also questioned on the effects of the ban on exports. He noted that while there are other markets that can facilitate the trade, they are not big enough to fill the gap created by the loss of the US market.
He had said that they were hoping to complete the process by the end of the first quarter this year.
In 2015, the US’ Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) amended its regulations to establish a mandatory inspection programme for the catfish species and products derived from these fish.
The amendment was the result of a 15-year battle by the Catfish Farmers of America (CFA) to curtail catfish imports from Vietnam. The US government had already passed the 2008 and 2014 Farm Bills, which amended the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), to make ‘‘catfish’’ a species amenable to the FMIA and, therefore, subject to FSIS.
Guyana failed to meet the new standards in three areas: the presence of inspectors; sufficient documentation detailing verification of each step in the sanitation and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point; and sufficient documentation specifying how the industry manages adulterated (tainted) catfish product.
Guyana has been working towards compliance with the new standards for the export of catfish to the United States since 2016, Roberts had related in March last year.
The US Embassy had said in a statement then that the Guyana government had been notified of the revised regulations as it relates to catfish imports 18 months before the changes were slated to take effect. However, despite the lengthy notice, no affirmative actions were taken to ensure that the country became compliant with the new rules.
