It should be compulsory for fisherfolk to report and provide proper identification to the authorities prior to heading out to sea, acting Crime Chief Michael Kingston said last week.
Kingston made the recommendation as he testified at a public hearing hosted by the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the fatal pirate attacks in which over a dozen fishermen were killed off the coast of Suriname last year. Kingston had overseen the investigation.
He said that to ensure the safety of fisherfolk, there needs to be a more coordinated approach where “all the agencies involved, cooperate and in addition to that, I am of the strong opinion that there should be a reporting mechanism where all fishing vessels have adequate equipment to signal back to shore when they are in distress.”
