20 thousand tons per year is the fishing catch in Ras Al Khaimah

Dr. Saif Al Ghais, Director General of the Environment Protection and Development Authority in Ras Al Khaimah, said that the fishing quantities in the Ras Al Khaimah’s coasts are estimated at 20,000 tons annually. Includes the catch of picnic fishing, which does not have exact numbers. The number of marine fishing licenses, currently registered is 1,200 licenses.Al-Ghais pointed out that the share of fishermen has decreased by up to 50% compared to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Due to increased fishing effort, which includes increment of numbers of fishermen, boats, fishing trips and equipment. On the other hand, Sheri breeding period is a bit longer. Autumn months (September, October, and mid-November), which fishermen have proposed to prevent Sheri and Safi fishing, is not a breeding season, and it is useless to prevent fishing during it.Protecting Sheri and Safi stocks could be possible by limiting the fishing effort, which targets these fishes by preventing fishing in breeding periods, or prohibiting it in nursery areas of young fish.The law prohibits the catch of small fish, a benthic species, which are caught by fishing cages, which enables the fisherman to re-release them into the sea while alive.EPDA is working with the Ministry of Climate Change to prevent small-scale fishing, to give it the opportunity to grow, what is known in fish biology as stock entry periods, by controlling the size of the meshes and the traps (fishing cages). Also by emphasizing the size of fish allowed to be caught, and mentoring over fish sizes reaching fish markets.