National Plan of Action handed over to Fisheries Department.

Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha handed over Guyana’s National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing to the ministry’s Fisheries Department.

The event took place in the ministry’s main Boardroom yesterday and saw attendance from representatives from the World Wildlife Fund-Guianas (WWF-Guianas) and also featured a workshop that aims to bring together the entities responsible for fisheries management in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

While offering remarks at the exercise, Minister Mustapha said that the fisheries sector provides an essential source of food, employment, well-being, and trade globally and for many Guyanese.

“Fish has emerged as an important commodity for the achievement of food security. However, we are cognizant of the fact that our efforts to ensure the sustainability of the fishing industry face significant threats such as climate change and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

The Government of Guyana continues to invest heavily in proactive initiatives that ensure Guyana is on a sustainable path to being a food-secure nation. This plan of action, therefore, strives to promote long-term conservation and the sustainable use of our fisheries resources,” Minister Mustapha said.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a broad term that captures a variety of fishing activities undermining sustainable fisheries management and the health of the marine environment.

Back in 2021, the Fisheries Department began working with the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) to develop Guyana’s National Plan of Action for the fight against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (NPOA-IUU) Fishing.

This NPOA would be based on the principles of the Regional Plan of Action (RPOA-IUU) which seeks to assist its Member States in implementing the foremost measure in the RPOA-IUU.