Region Nine boat operators benefit from training
Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), Guyana, Friday, September 9, 2016
MARAD collaborated with the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) and Conservation International-Guyana to conduct a boat captain training and certification programme for boat operators at Caiman House in Yupukari Village, Region Nine on August 10, 2016.
Participants with MARAD Officers
Twenty eight (28) boat operators were awarded with a Certificate of Competency to operate as boat captains under the Licencing of Ships Regulation 2001, and are now appropriately equipped to operate safely on the rivers within the region.
Participants were drawn from, Yupukari, Massara, and Toka villages, Karanambu Eco-lodge, and the Protected Areas Commission in Central Rupununi.
The training is one of the initiatives undertaken by MARAD with support partners to expand the outreach where maritime services are needed, but very difficult to access financially and logistically.
The GTA continues to lend support to MARAD as their standard operating procedure is to improve the safety and professional standard of river tours offered by various operators, based on Guyana’s growing nature-based tourism products, also to ensure operators are licensed to operate on the rivers.
Training in this aspect was conducted previously in July 2014, in Annai where 21 boat operators benefitted.
Participants during the training session.