The fisheries sector is of crucial importance to Guyana’s economy.
In fact, it makes more than a whopping $4.5B contribution towards the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
But even in the face of this creditable success, there are challenges which must be confronted. Marine resources have been under tremendous pressure due to excess fishing capacity, illegal, unregulated
and unreported fishing piracy and other factors. Additionally, increasing demand for fish and fish products
have caused many commercial species to be over exploited and marine production cannot keep up
with demand. In light of this, the Government of Guyana has taken a multi-pronged approach. Not only has it stepped up training exercises but it has sought to encourage the diversification of commercial aquaculture. In this regard, incentives such as duty free concessions and technical support from the Fisheries Department in combination with projects are being provided. Furthermore, it should be noted that freshwater aquaculture is supported by the Satyadeow Sawh Aquaculture Station (SSAS), which has the mandate to conduct training,
research and fingerling production and is complemented by the Anna Regina Fish Station (ARFS). This
Station was rehabilitated and will procure broodstock (ten supermales and ten females) for SSAS as well as
feed and other equipment. With that said, we shall now dive right into the statistics and details on the training done thus far to improve the sector.
Review of 2017 Performance (January – June) Aquaculture Production
Tilapia production fell to 77% from 2016 to 2017. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, this may
be due to a decline in customer demand and price. In the meantime, black-water shrimp rose by 89%, an
indication that farmers are producing shrimp. Surprisingly, there was a decrease in the smuggling of shrimp in Region # 6. The Ministry said that this was as a result of combined actions taken by government and law enforcement. As for Tambaqui, this species showed a steady increase of 4% in production.
Additionally, the sale and value of fingerlings decreased by 40% and 36.9 % respectively.
