Officers and ranks of ‘B’ Division of the Guyana Police Force were present at the meeting to take statements from the fishermen.

Sawh was told that as recently as Saturday last, a gang of pirates went on a rampage and robbed several fishermen of outboard engines and fishing nets at gunpoint.

This piracy began in the early 1990s in the Berbice River, and one fisherman recalled being robbed of six outboard engines.

From all indications, the pirates are Guyanese, who sometimes assume a Dutch accent.

Fishermen requested that there be inter-agency cooperation among the Guyana Police Force, the Coast Guard, the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS), the Customs and Excise Department and the Ministry of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock.

They claim that reports made to the Police Stations at Albion and New Amsterdam are not properly investigated.

Among suggestions made by fishermen was that a Coast Guard outpost be set up in Berbice. The fishermen also want to see quicker responses by the Police Force to their complaints about pirate attacks.

They are asking, too, that the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) should ensure the serial numbers of imported engines comply with requisite standards. The fishermen are requesting that emergency telephone numbers be available to all their co-op societies, and that a subsidy system be put in place to compensate fishermen who were robbed.

Sawh noted that one of the biggest needs is for fast, effective communication and action by the relevant authorities.

He recommended that the Police make available at all fishing facilities, a list of telephone numbers of senior officers.

During a recent visit to Berbice, President Bharrat Jagdeo instructed the Coast Guard to set up a permanent base there.

Minister Sawh noted that although the Police have not been able to identify the sea pirates, they suspect that several local persons, who are familiar with the fishermen’s routine, are involved in the attacks.