Efforts will continue to tackle piracy
-Minister Persaud

Georgetown, GINA, December 04, 2007.

Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud has expressed grave concern over the recent increase in incidents of piracy and has reiterated Government’s commitment to various measures to tackle the issue.
            At a press a press conference at the Ministry of Agriculture today, the Minister noted that efforts are continuing through a multi-sectoral approach to deal with the situation. Some of the key agencies involved in these discussions and activities are the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Guyana Defence Force, the Coastguard and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Reports have revealed that three of the recent outbreaks of piracy occurred in Suriname waters and a ‘Note Verbale’ has since been sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking collaboration with the Surinamese Government to deal with the issue.
  Minister Persaud pointed out that although piracy is mainly a law-enforcement matter, efforts have been made and resources have been diverted through the Agriculture Ministry to assist with patrol capacity through which two boats and engines were purchased for fishermen’s co-op societies of Essequibo and Berbice.
Some of the activities currently being undertaken by Government to tackle piracy include joint operations and establishment of a modern communication system to which an additional $15M was made available. This system will include Global Positioning System that will help the authorities to detect the location of a vessel sending a distress signal.
An anti-piracy plan was also prepared by the GDF Coastguard to make them more effective as a deterrent, to provide a rapid response capability to any act of piracy and to ensure greater collaboration and information-sharing among stakeholders.
Additionally, a Piracy Legislation is on stream and will be tabled in the National Assembly shortly seeking to make the offence non-bailable and with tougher punishment.
Through the direct intervention of President Bharrat Jagdeo, a Special Revolving Fund was set up to provide assistance to victims of piracy while other mechanisms are being pursued.
During previous interaction with fishermen, discussions were held on possible actions that can help to deter piracy. These include arming of fishermen through an arrangement similar to the Community Policing Groups, registration and licensing of all vessels and engines and development of a colour code for each co-operative society

The stamping of vessels and engines were also put forward as other mechanisms to help law-enforcement authorities trace stolen items to areas where they are sold since confirmation of catches could clamp down on the sale of catches stolen by pirates.

more bulletins