Dear Editor,
The American oil giant is readying to do a study. The company has engaged a consultant to do the study of what is really wrong with our fisheries sector, but that is as good as if ExxonMobil itself is doing the study. This immediately takes on the appearance of a smokescreen, and nothing but a gimmick. It is to buy time and give the company some breathing space by taking away the glare of attention from what is happening to our fisherfolk, and what looks like the most responsible source of their woes. ExxonMobil coming up with its own consultant to conduct such an analysis is the equivalent of the Guyana Police Force investigating itself. Rarely, does anything positive, definitive, and conclusive comes out of such probing.
Also, a big red flag, two of them more accurately, are obvious – the first is that the identity of the consultant is withheld by ExxonMobil, meaning that it is yet another matter that is found necessary to keep as a secret from the citizens of this country. And the second flashing warning sign is that ExxonMobil is not prepared to disclose the scope of the study. That is another giveaway that this could be a sham study, another exercise in fakery put on Guyanese; if we don’t know the scope, then we are again being strung up on a rope. Right away, and this is from examining one or both of the mysteries in ExxonMobil’s attempt to pacify (possibly pull one over) fisherfolks specifically, and Guyanese in general, it is clear that our fisheries sector is trapped in a net and with no real way out. Our citizens who work the fishing fields are being roasted on an open fire, with everybody having fun at their expense, including their own government and leaders, and under the promptings of cunning outsiders from Texas and other parts of the United States.
To pour some more salt into the painful wounds of Guyana’s fisherfolks, ExxonMobil’s Country President, Alistair Routledge, said that the company is in the process of conducting “an updated targeted marine environmental baseline studies program to develop a robust understanding of the marine environment within the Area of Influence (AOI) of the Yellowtail Project.” First, “targeted” narrows the range of coverage, then “baseline” is just that as in barebones or the negligible, and “robust” (understanding) is now so overused as to represent nothing. Last, and to top it all off, there was the dizzying “Area of Influence” which tells me that will be defined by ExxonMobil’s carefully and craftily selected consultant. All I say is that the fish of our fisherfolk is being deep fried. But I did enjoy the handiwork of ExxonMobil and its Guyana hand in charge of the local circus and talk show circuit.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
