If the fishing activity in the islands of Margarita and Coche is in a crisis caused by the restrictions in the supply of fuel, about a month ago the situation bottomed out as a result of a new cut in the amount of fuel supplied.
By La Patilla
Mar 5, 2023
Gustavo Guerra, spokesman for the state’s Deep Sea Fishermen’s Association, assured that they used to have assigned 300 liters per month and has now been reduced to only 40.
As a result of this recent restriction through the “Patria System” (A biometric political control system with a card), at least 700 vessels of the snapper grouper offshore fishing fleet in Nueva Esparta are anchored on the state’s coasts due to lack of fuel.
The spokesman for the deep-sea fishermen’s union stressed that the situation has lent itself to the tampering and black market trading of registered fingerprints in the Patria system and while they are trying to deal with this situation, there are many ships that are stranded on the seashore.
“In my case, I have a boat that carries 8,000 liters of gasoline, I would need to find at least 200 people to pass their fingerprint and pay them $10 each. When you add it up, it is quite a bit of money that does not go to the State, nor PDVSA, nor the Ministry of Petroleum, and it does not have an impact on works of social interest for Venezuelans,” Guerra said.
Official estimates from the Association of Deep Sea Fishermen of the entity show that to supply a boat with 10,000 liters of diesel to go fishing in international waters, they need 5,000 dollars, to which they must add another 8,000 dollars for food expenses, other fishing supplies and tariffs.
This means that for each fishing outing they would have to invest a minimum of 13,000 dollars and if with luck they manage to get a thousand kilos of fish to Trinidad, which is where they can market it, the highest price they pay is 10 dollars per kilo, so that they would be short by $3,000 per trip.
According to the authorities of the aforementioned association, the situation not only affects more than 9,000 families that depend on their fishing, in the little more than 700 high-seas fishing boats, but also the state institutions that benefit from the 300 kilos of marine species that each vessel must contribute to “Insopesca” when returning from fishing.
Among the institutions that receive this “protein contribution” are public educational establishments, security forces, nursing homes and hospitals.
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