Will St Vincent and the Grenadines be able to meet the demand as it pertains to fish? Finance Minister Camilo Gonsalves says that SVG’s waters had more than enough fish to supply the market.
Gonsalves, however, said the same could not be said about fisherfolk.
“We’ve done checks with marine biologists from UWI about the actual supply of fish, not talking about caught fish, just fish in the sea, and we are confident, very confident that the waters in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have more than enough fish to service the needs of the new players,” Gonsalves said.
“So the issue is not the fish, the issue is the fisherfolk to supply, and where we stand today, 2021, we do not have enough fisherfolk to supply the demand for fish that will be generated by Rainforest Seafood, Bequia Seafood and the Owia facility.” He said.
The Finance Minister said that this would be a challenge in the near term. Still, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries hopes to increase fisherfolk in the sector and for the existing fisherfolk to ramp up production.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Government has granted a 15-year tax break to Rainforest Seafood SVG Ltd, which says it is investing EC$10 million in the fish processing facility at Calliaqua.
In addition, the government said that no taxes or duties were imposed on a wide range of items for the construction of the company’s processing facility and equipment, including boats and trucks.
No customs duties, VAT or other taxes or duties will be imposed on raw materials, intermediate goods, consumables, and packaging material imported or purchased locally in connection with the project.
Rainforest Seafood has facilities in Jamaica, Belize, Barbados, the Bahamas and St. Lucia.