Suriname detains Guyanese for illegal fishing

CMC (Suriname) – The Surinamese Coast Guard has arrested several Guyanese nationals it said were engaged in illegal fishing activities in Suriname’s territorial waters.

Officials here said that during regular patrol activities, law enforcement officers came across a suspicious fishing boat in the vicinity of Warapa Creek. After inspection, this vessel was detained due to the lack of the required documents to legally fish in Surinamese waters.

Preliminary investigation showed that the crew of the vessel has violated the Sea Fisheries Act, the Economic Offences Act and the Aliens Act. Investigations also revealed that the vessel had been fishing in Surinamese waters for about two to three days. The vessel and the catch were handed over by the Coast Guard to the Fraud Department of the Suriname Police Force for further judicial processing.

For the past several months, Suriname and Guyana have been at odds over the issuing of fishing licences to Guyanese.

Just last week, Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo lamented that Suriname has not delivered on its promise to grant 150 fishing licences to Guyanese fishermen.

However, Surinamese government officials, including President Chandrikapersad Santokhi and Foreign Affairs Minister Albert Ramdin, have said on several occasions that the administration has never made any such promise.

Guyanese fishermen have complained that they have to pay thousands of dollars to rent fishing licences from Surinamese licence holders.

Georgetown reportedly approached Paramaribo to look into the possibility of issuing these permits directly to Guyanese fishermen. But according to Surinamese authorities, this is not possible since the fisheries law prohibits foreigners from being issued these licences.

About The Author