PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – Suriname has announced plans to establish a database of all fishing boats registered in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country in a move aimes at curbing illegal fishing and other criminal activities.

“There will be a database of all fishing vessels in the fight against illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in Surinamese waters. All fishing vessels operating with a valid licence from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries will be included in this database,” the government said in a statement.

It said in addition to the name and registration number, other information about each vessel will be added to the database, so that each vessel will be uniquely recognisable.

The ministry said it has signed an agreement with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Guianas for the implementation of the project ‘Populating the new fisheries vessel database of Suriname’.

The ministry said that the precise dimensions, construction materials, colours and data of the engine, including serial numbers, will be stored in the database along with photos of the boats.

It said that illegal boats are common in the Guyanas, Brazil and Venezuela waters and pose an enormous threat to the sustainable exploitation of the fishing grounds, the livelihoods of legal fishermen and can lead to overfishing of the fishing grounds.

“Given the reporting of the ghost fishing boats becoming more frequent in our waters, this fisheries database, combined with other measures, will allow us to better identify these boats,” said Parveen Amrit Persaud, Fisheries Director, at the signing of the agreement.

The country has been plagued for years by illegal fishing and piracy off its coast, and in 2018, more than 10 fishermen were killed at sea in what was apparently a turf war between rival groups for the best fishing grounds off the coast.

The chief executive officer of Suvveb, Udo Karg, who heads one of Suriname’s largest fishing companies, told the Association of Economists in Suriname (VES) last week that Surinamese fishermen no longer visit the sea area between the Coppename River and the Courantyne River.

He said this is because most illegal fishing and other criminal activities take place between the two rivers making the area unsafe for local fishermen.

Karg noted that criminals have even gone as far copying the registration numbers of boats in Suriname, warning that these “fake” Surinamese vessels, could cause problems for the country, if they are spotted in the waters of another country.

Mark Lall of the Fishermen Collective confirming the situation, recalled that in 2018 a large number of fishermen were mistreated and killed by pirates in the area.

Lall said the fishing grounds between the Coppename River and Courantyne River are very rich in fish, but Surinamese fishermen no longer fish there and that the piracy situation has been reported to the But Lall sid while there are occasional patrols by the Coast Guard and the Navy, the fishermen themselves have to supply fuel so that patrols can be carried out.