Environmentalist calls on FAO to release study on fish catch

Julio Berdeague (right) with Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha during the agriculture conference held last week by the government. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation photo)

Environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly has written to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) calling on it to release a study which purports to say that Guyana’s oil and gas industry is not causing the low fish catch being experienced by fishermen here.

In a letter yesterday to Julio Berdeague, Assistant Director General of the FAO,  Mangal-Joly cites a May 22, 2022 Demerara Waves article: “Oil industry not responsible for low fish catch – FAO study”  where it was reported that Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha had stated that offshore oil and gas activities have not played a role in the decline of the fish catch. The letter said that the report attributed this conclusion to a United Nations’ FAO study, and further stated that the public can confirm this with the FAO.