Goed Fortuin fishermen urged to explore crustacean farming

Fishermen at Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara, are being urged to consider caged crustacean farming to diversify their livelihoods.

President Dr Irfaan Ali today toured the local fishing facility and introduced the idea as part of efforts to modernise and grow the industry.

Plans include rehabilitating the facility and developing infrastructure for farming and packaging crustaceans.

“I want us to identify land. Because I want ya’ll to do prawns production, shrimps, crab production.” He told the fishermen that caged crab could offer more money than fishing. As such, the government is willing to invest in the facilities and work with their counterparts from the Philippines to offer the necessary training to fishermen here.

“We will bring in the people from the Philippines, but it is not just giving you that, it is building right here, a processing facility, so that you can take the crab, get the crab meat, package it right here and move off,” he told the fishers.

The government will provide the investment in storage and other necessary facilities.

President Ali also ordered the speeding up of work to rehabilitate the non-functional koker in the community, the installation of proper lighting, the construction of walkways, a wharf for docking and offloading, and the improvement of security features which include police patrols within the area.

Fishermen complained about paying large sums of money to offload their catch since abandoned vessels prevent them from mooring close to the wharf. Works to remove the abandoned vessels and other clearing activities are expected to commence immediately.

President Ali continues to meet with several members of the agriculture industry as the government seeks to boost the standard of operation and economic activity taking place in the sector. Similar developments have already commenced in other parts of the country.

President Ali was accompanied by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, Chairman of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Lionel Wordsworth, and other technical staff.