Editorial
The commercial fishing industry in Guyana has traditionally been perceived stigmatically, at least in social terms. We speak of raucous behaviour as being fit only for a fish market, or typical of a fish vendor. The fisherman is usually represented as the stock representation of the uneducated, poor and socially backward. Indeed, one of the ‘Goals of fishery management’ in the Draft Fisheries Management Plan 2007-2011 is “To promote the image of fishing as an occupation that is socially desirable and financially rewarding.”

It probably time we collectively reexamine this stereotype. From a fledgling industry started half a century ago, fishing has surpassed the once powerful rice in export earnings in recent times. The fishing industry has contributed an average of US $53 million to Guyana’s GDP over the past few years and directly employs some 12,000 people.

As the country seeks to diversify its range of economic activity, the fishery sector has the capacity for exponential growth. Unfortunately, it also has the capacity for enormous failure. Investing time, energy and resources into developing Guyana’s fishing industry is as big a gamble as fishing itself. It is casting a net, a line into a future as murky and rich with possibilities as the ocean itself.

This inaugural edition of the GCER focuses on some of the issues facing the industry today at the national level, with a look at the industrial marine fishing industry and a glance at the fledgling aquaculture sector. Our next issue will be largely on the artisanal fishing both at sea and inland. Yet two, or even four, issues are not enough to provide any comprehensive analysis or even illustration of this sector. They are a start however.

While GCER plans to examine a broad range of economic activity over the lifespan of this publication, the fishing industry is one that is at such a critical state of development as to warrant continual analysis and examination.