GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana says it is holding discussions with French officials on the acquisition of a vessel to curb the “hundreds of millions of dollars” lost annually to illegal fishing activities.
“We have negotiations going on with the French to have a mother ship established in our EEZ (exclusive economic zone). That is a high cost but it is a cost that we have to incur now,” President Irfaan Ali told the business community.
He said Guyana loses “hundreds of millions of dollars” each year because of illegal fishing in its waters and as a result his administration had to act.
The EEZ is an area of the ocean, generally extending 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond a nation’s territorial sea, within which a coastal nation has jurisdiction over both living and nonliving resources.
Last year, a report on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing was submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture, detailing that as of recent as 2021, there were about 19,000 vessel-days where non-Guyanese flagged vessels were found in the country’s EEZ.
