Country review: Saudi Arabia

Gary Morgan
FAO Consultant, Fishery Policy and Planning Division, Fisheries Department
August 2004

INTRODUCTION

Saudi Arabia occupies 80 percent of the area of the Arabian Peninsula and is bordered on the west by the Red Sea and on the east by the Gulf that lies between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Although the length of coastline bordering the Red Sea represents about 79 percent of the total Saudi coast, production from the Red Sea area in 2001 was 20 734 tonnes, or slightly less than 50 percent of total production. The remainder was taken from the Arabian Gulf coast. Production in the Red Sea is dominated by groupers (2 594 tonnes in 2000), emperors (2 791 tonnes) and scads and jacks (2 827 tonnes). While these species are also important in the Arabian Gulf, production of shrimp (4 760 tonnes in 2000) and kingfish (2 250 tonnes) also constitute important components of the catch.

The traditional or artisanal fishery as well as industrial fisheries operates in both the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf areas. In the Arabian Gulf, the industrial sector is solely concerned with shrimp production while the artisanal sector uses fish traps (locally known as ‘gargoor’), gillnets, handlines, trolling and small shrimp trawl nets. In addition, a small number (five in 2001) of traditional stake nets (hadrah) are still utilized in the area. The industrial fleet of the Arabian Gulf coast, which is based in Dammam, exclusively targets shrimp although fish by-catch from these bottom trawling operations is an important component of the catch and is also landed and marketed. Fish trap fisheries dominate artisanal production in the Arabian Gulf with 44 percent of production coming from this method in 2001.

In the Red Sea, artisanal fisheries production is almost entirely from handline and gillnets, while the industrial fleet utilizes fish and shrimp trawl nets and purse seine nets. The industrial vessels operating in the Red Sea utilize trawl nets to target both demersal fish stocks and shrimp, with the majority of these vessels belonging to Saudi Fisheries Company and operating out of Jizan on the southern Red Sea coast.

In 2001, 5 892 tonnes of the total Red Sea production of 20 734 tonnes came from the industrial fish trawlers with the remainder from the artisanal sector. This can be compared with the Arabian Gulf coast where, in 2001, 98.3 percent of the total production of 24 605 tonnes came from the artisanal sector.

Catch rates are generally higher in the Arabian Gulf for most fishing methods with catches/day ranging from 132 kg/day for trap fishing boats in the Arabian Gulf (compared with 23 kg/day for trap fishing boats in the Red Sea) to 15 kg/day for handline vessels in the Red Sea.

The artisanal fishing fleet of the Kingdom includes 9 436 boats of which 7 611 operate in the Red Sea and 1 825 in Arabian Gulf waters. The industrial fleet consists of 149 boats in the Red Sea (primarily operating out of Jizan on the southern Red Sea coast) and 34 boats on the Arabian Gulf. 4 172 professional fishermen and 8 186 employees in the secondary fisheries sectors operate in the Red Sea area; while 1 715 professional fishermen and 6 939 secondary sector employees operate in the Arabian Gulf areas. The majority of fishermen are Saudi nationals while expatriate workers (predominately from India, Egypt and Bangladesh) dominate the secondary production sector as well as being employed as crew on fishing vessels.

Although the artisanal fisheries are the largest by volume in the country, the industrial shrimp fishery of the Arabian Gulf and, to a lesser extent, the southern Red Sea remains the most valuable, as it has been for many years. The wholesale value of the industrial shrimp catch in 2002 was US$ 45.2 million (Table 2) although, because of declining landings, this is less than the value of US$ 66.0 million five years ago. Estimates of the wholesale value of the artisanal fishery in 2001 are approximately US$ 38.8 million for the Arabian Gulf and US$ 23.7 million for the Red Sea with the value of the Red Sea artisanal catches having increased slightly from US$ 21.1 million during the past five years despite landings having declined. This is a result in the increase in the wholesale price of most fish species.

The largest operator in the industrial sector is Saudi Fisheries Company, which was established in 1980 (1401H) as a joint stock company, according to Royal Decree No. M/7 of 1979. The Company was established with a fully paid capital of SR 100 000 000 with 40 percent contributed by the Government and the remaining 60 percent raised from the private sector.

The Company was established to develop investment opportunities in fishing and aquaculture production together with the production and sale of seafood both locally and in the International market.

The Company’s Head-office and primary processing plants is located in Dammam and another plant based in Jizan on the southern Red Sea coast. SFC also operates processing and distribution depots in Riyadh and Jeddah. The Company also has cold stores at Dammam, Jizan, Jeddah and Riyadh having a total storage capacity of 4 000 tonnes.

The company operates a fleet of industrial vessels with on-board processing, fish and shrimp aquaculture farms, land-based processing plants, retail and wholesale shops throughout the Kingdom and is a major exporter of fresh and processed fish and fish products.

The primary fisheries management agency in the Kingdom is the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, which, in addition to fisheries, is responsible for agriculture, forestry and water resources in the Kingdom. Fisheries issues are addressed by the Fisheries Sector directorate within the Ministry, which is under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Minister for Fish Resources Affairs. The fisheries administration and management functions of the Ministry were established in 1988 through Royal Decree 7/505M dated 28/3/1406 (equivalent to 1988) which established the Ministry as being responsible for fisheries. Subsequent implementing regulations and administrative decisions from MAW regulate fisheries.

The Ministry has input controls in place for the industrial shrimp fishery where the number of vessels is limited, while mesh size regulations, size limits and closed areas and seasons are imposed on the artisanal sector. Various closed areas in both the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf are also in place for shrimp and fish species. However, enforcement of these regulations is weak and illegal fishing is common. There are no controls on outputs and no fishery is managed under a quota or ITQ system. The Ministry also has an enforcement office to control and enforce the management measures although actual enforcement is performed by the Coast Guard and other marine agencies. The Ministry also collects landings statistics as well as collating import and export data and sociological data on fishermen.

Although total landings from Saudi Arabia have remained approximately constant since about 1985 at around 40 000 tonnes, these landings have been maintained by more than a doubling of the number of fishing vessels (mainly artisanal) and a quadrupling in the number of fishermen. The Ministry has been addressing this problem by imposing a temporary ban on the issue of new fishing licenses and by restricting ownership of artisanal vessels to one per fisherman. However, this has been largely ineffective because there were no additional restrictions on the size or capacity of replacement vessels and therefore there have been significant increases in the size of vessels so that they can carry more fishing gear. These larger vessels require additional crew and hence the number of fishermen has increased at a greater rate than the number of fishing vessels.

With the increase in fishing capacity, particularly in the artisanal fishery, some of the major stocks have shown recent signs of over-exploitation. Landings of grouper in the Arabian Gulf have declined in recent years, in common with other countries in the region and the important shrimp fishery in the Arabian Gulf has also shown recent signs of over-exploitation and the industrial fleet having been reduced to 34 vessels from the previous 45. However, as a result of pressure from artisanal fishermen, the length of the fishing season has been extended to compensate for lower catches and, since 2002, has opened on August 1 each year.

The increasing fishing capacity within the Saudi Arabian artisanal sector (which has occurred without parallel increases in catches from the sector) poses significant problems for the managing authority, particularly since subsidization of the sector and ensuring employment and investment opportunities for Saudi nationals remain pillars of the fisheries management approach. Recognizing these issues, the Ministry has attempted to deflect investment from capture fisheries into aquaculture and has set an ambitious production target of 50 000 tonnes per annum from this sector. However, unless fishing capacity in the Kingdom’s marine artisanal sector can be effectively limited, the stocks of marine fish in both the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea areas will come under increasing pressure in future years and may, despite increases in fishing capacity, finally result in a decline in total landings, something that has been avoided so far.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The national authority with responsibility for fisheries management in Saudi Arabia is the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, which was provided with the authority to administer and manage fisheries in 1988. It co-operates with other Ministries in achieving fisheries management outcomes, most commonly by the formation of temporary inter-Ministerial committees to address specific issues. The Fisheries Affairs Directorate within the Ministry is responsible not only for marine fisheries management but also for aquaculture and marine protection.

The structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water is as follows:

Management of fisheries resources in Saudi Arabia is very much development-orientated with the stated overall policy objectives being:

• To produce fresh fish for local markets as part of national food security policy.

• To develop sustainable and responsible fisheries management through stock conservation measures.

• To improve the economic performance of different fishery sectors through better utilization of the marine environment.

• To subsidize local fish production supplied from both capture fisheries and aquaculture.

• To encourage and increase fish supply from aquaculture in order to reduce fishing pressure on local stocks.

There are currently no management plans in place for any of Saudi Arabia’s fisheries and, as a result, fisheries policy has tended to be ad hoc and the few management measures that have been introduced have usually been done so to address short-term, specific problems.

The industrial sector, which is dominated by the partly Government-owned Saudi Fishing Company has a broad mandate to manage its own affairs and essentially establishes fisheries management policy for its own activities to ensure both profitability and development opportunities. It also undertakes and commissions research to support these management activities. In cases where conflict between their activities and the activities of the artisanal sector have occurred (e.g. between inshore, artisanal shrimp vessels taking small shrimp in the Arabian Gulf and the company’s industrial vessels taking shrimp further offshore), the company has tended to make recommendations directly to the Ministry as to steps to take to resolve the issue, although these recommendations are not always followed. There are no formal decision-making processes within the Ministry of Agriculture and Water for incorporating stakeholders’ views and representations are generally made on an ad hoc basis. The Ministry does, however, become involved in setting fishing seasons and specifying mesh sizes in consultation with both the company and the artisanal fishermen.

Subsidization of artisanal fishing activities by the Government is an important part of fisheries management policy in Saudi Arabia. These subsidies take the form of both cash payments in compensation for lost catches or gear as well as subsidized services such as engine and net repair. While the industrial sector does not appear to receive direct subsidies, indirect subsidies are common, particularly in the development of their infrastructure of processing plants and wholesale and retail outlets.

International fisheries issues are also the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water. Saudi Arabia participates in the activities of the Regional Fisheries Commission (RECOFI) although effective regional co-operation is weak or virtually non-existent, both on a bilateral basis and through RECOFI. Saudi Arabia ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1996 but has not ratified the UN Fish Stocks Agreement or the FAO Compliance Agreement.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Saudi Arabia’s legal framework for fisheries, as with other sectors, begins with the Constitution, which, since Saudi Arabia is governed by Sharia Law, is the Holy Qu’ran. Legislation is established by resolution of the Council of Ministers but all legislation must be ratified by Royal Decree from the King and be compatible with the Constitution and Holy Qu’ran. Following a resolution from the Council of Ministers, Royal Decree 7/505M dated 28/3/1406 (equivalent to 1988) established the Fisheries Resources Sector as part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water (MAW), under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Minister for Fish Resources Affairs. The Decree also allocated responsibility for all fisheries affairs (interpreted as management, development and protection of resources, fishermen’s and fishing company’s social and economic issues and marine area protection) to the Fisheries Resources Sector of MAW.

The same Decree (7/505M) also established the Meteorology and Environment Protection Administration which deals with marine protected areas.

The Implementing Regulations were published shortly after Decree 7/505M and is composed of ten sections and 125 articles. The various Sections of the Implementing Regulations consist of: definition and terms (sect. I); general provision (sect. II); use and exploitation of living aquatic resources (sect. III): fishing license (chap. 1); labor (chap. 2); artificial and traditional fishing means (chap. 3); conservation, transport, marketing and production of aquatic resources (chap. 4); manufacture and maintenance of fishing gear and means (chap. 5); agricultural bank and credits (chap. 6); living aquatic resources protection (sect. IV)]; forbidden and prohibited (sect. V): [fishing gear and means (chap. 1); zones and periods (chap. II)]]; diving (sect. VI): [diving license (chap. 1); diving license of instructors and assistants (chap. 2); creation of a centre for diving training (chap. 3)]; aquaculture (sect. VII): [aquaculture license (chap. 1)]; cooperatives (sect. VIII); competence and suitability of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water (sect. IX); offenses and penalties (sect. X).

Additional regulations and administrative decisions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, which have been issued on an ad hoc basis, implement the details of fisheries management and administration.

The Saudi Fisheries Company, which is the dominant company in industrial fisheries (including catching, processing, exporting, wholesaling and retailing as well as aquaculture production), was also established by Royal Decree in 1980 (Royal decree No. M/7 of 1979) as a joint stock company. The company has responsibility for contributing to food security of the Kingdom for fish and fish products and has broad responsibility for managing its affairs and the resources it exploits to achieve this objective.

There are a number of Royal Decrees that address the limitations of the territorial sea of Saudi Arabia and the location of its boundaries with neighboring countries. These boundary issues essentially follow the requirements and guidelines of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

STATUS OF THE FISHERIES

While Saudi Arabia collects and publishes comprehensive statistics on landings, employment, number of fishing vessels, number of fishing trips by type of gear used and trade in fish and fisheries products, there is little information available on fishing capacity or the location from which catches are taken. Like other countries of the region, Saudi artisanal fishermen often fish outside of their territorial waters, with such catches being included in Saudi landings, if they are landed in Saudi Arabia. Likewise, if catches taken from Saudi Arabian waters are landed in neighboring countries, then these catches are not included in Saudi Arabian statistics. These two issues of the relationship between catch and landings and the lack of detailed fishing capacity data (together with the regional distribution of many exploited fish species) makes assessment of the status of most stocks in Saudi waters difficult.

Stock assessment research has not been a priority in Saudi Arabia, although Saudi Fisheries Company has undertaken such research, particularly to determine sustainable levels of exploitation of the shrimp resources of the Arabian Gulf area. Unfortunately, the results of this research are not readily available. Kedidi (1988) and Sakurai (1998) have commented on various indicators of exploitation for major exploited species but have not undertaken formal assessments of the major stocks.

Recent declines in landings of some major species, such as Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus comers) and grouper (Epinephelus spp) in the Arabian Gulf appear to mirror similar declines in abundance in neighboring countries. As a result, there is a regional concern for the status of these species. Likewise, the important shrimp resources of the Arabian Gulf have declined in recent years, despite a reduction in industrial fishing capacity. However, artisanal fishing effort (fishing on small shrimp in inshore waters) has increased and may be a significant contributing factor to the decline in shrimp landings. Moreover, under pressure from the artisanal fishery because of declining catches, the Ministry has allowed an earlier opening of the shrimp season in recent years, resulting not only in increased fishing effort (at a time when fishing effort should probably be curtailed) but also in shrimp being captured at very small sizes in or near inshore nursery areas.

Likewise, landings of grouper, snapper and jacks in some areas of the Red Sea have ether declined or remained steady as (mainly) artisanal fishing effort has increased. Total fish landings from the Red Sea have declined by around 36 percent over the period 19892001, despite a more than doubling of the artisanal and industrial fishing fleet.

Despite the lack of comprehensive stock assessments of the major species, the generally accepted view is that the shrimp and the finfish resources off both the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea coasts are already intensely exploited. The shrimp stocks of the Arabian Gulf may be rehabilitated, as it was in the 1980s, by further reductions of fishing effort, better controls on the taking of small shrimp in shallow water areas by artisanal vessels and prevention of illegal fishing on the main shrimp nursery areas. Like other countries in the region, the catch of some major finfish species (such as grouper) on the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia are in decline. Overexploitation may be a contributing factor in this decline (as indicated by fish length or age distributions) as well as changing environmental conditions brought about by coastal development. Cooperative management among all Gulf and Red Sea countries for shared stocks is needed to address the overall management of these regional stocks.

The largest fisheries in Saudi Arabia are shown in Table 1. Although recreational fishing is undertaken in both the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea areas (particularly from small boats), the sector is not managed and there is no data available on the number of participants or landings:

TABLE 1
Characteristics of the largest fisheries (by volume) of Saudi Arabia

* Estimated Value in 2002 U.S. Dollars.

Total landings have remained static in recent years in Saudi Arabia^[357], despite the number of vessels increasing. Table 2 shows the changes, for both the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf areas in the landings, the number of artisanal vessels and the number of industrial vessels between 1989 and 2001.

TABLE 2
Changes in Saudi Arabian fisheries (1989-2001)

MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY

There are no stated national objectives or goals regarding management of any of Saudi Arabia’s marine fisheries and no management plans exist for any of the country’s fisheries. As a result, fisheries management tends to be focused on the resolution of existing, short-term problems and issues rather than taking a longer-term, strategic view.

However, Saudi Arabia has introduced a number of management measures to control exploitation of its fishery resources in both the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. These controls are all input controls and include:

• Prohibition on the use of explosives, poisons or other harmful substances for fishing.

• Closed seasons for shrimp fishing in the Arabian Gulf (variable but currently from January 1 to August 1 each year) and in the Red Sea from March 1 to August 1. Closed seasons are not based on any formal process or surveys but are generally determined after representations from stakeholders as to the state of the stock.

• Restrictions on artisanal shrimp fishermen to fishing in less than 15 meter depth and also using motors less than 250 hp.

• Closed seasons for important coral reef species of grouper in the Red Sea.

• Mesh size restrictions for gillnets of 2.5 inch mesh in both the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, apart from nets used for taking sardines, where a mesh size of 1.0 inch in the wings and 0.5 inch in the body of the net is permitted. Artisanal shrimp fishing nets are restricted to 2.5 inch mesh in the wings and 1.0 inch in the body of the net.

• Restricting ownership of artisanal vessels to one per fisherman.

• Mesh size restrictions and limits on the size of industrial trawlers (currently 20 m LOA) in the shrimp fishery of the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea.

• Temporary suspension on the issue of new fishing licenses.

• Establishment of marine protected areas in both the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

All vessels and fishermen are licensed with licensing of industrial vessels being done by the Minister of Agriculture and Water for every investment in excess of 20 million Saudi Rials. For investments less than 20 million Saudi Rials, the licenses are issued by the Deputy Minister for Fisheries Affairs. In addition, all foreign workers on the vessels require permits.

Illegal fishing practices and unlicensed fishing are, however, common and enforcement of regulations is not particularly effective, particularly in the artisanal fishery.

Following the recognition that fishing capacity (particularly the number of fishing vessels) was increasing rapidly without parallel increases in production, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water implemented a temporary suspension on the issue of new artisanal fishing licenses in the late 1990s, thereby introducing a temporary limited entry regime for the artisanal fishery. However, the implementation of the ban on issuing new licenses was not accompanied by any restrictions on the size of replacement vessels. As a result, the building of larger vessels as replacements for existing smaller vessels has accelerated, so that the larger vessels can carry more fishing gear - particularly fish traps. As a result, the temporary suspension on the issue of new fishing licenses in the artisanal sector, while restricting the number of fishing vessels, has not prevented a continuation of fishing effort increases. Unfortunately, no reliable data exists on the extent of these fishing effort increases. Since industrial fishing licenses are issued by either the Minister or deputy Minister (see above) there is no formal policy of license restriction for industrial vessels. However, in recent years, the number of industrial vessels has either fallen (in the Arabian Gulf area from 45 in 1996 to 34 in 2001) or increased slowly (in the Red Sea from 171 in 1996 to 183 in 2001).

In 2002, the Government introduced additional restrictions in the Eastern Province of the Arabian Gulf aimed at controlling fishing effort in the artisanal fishery and enhancing the employment opportunities for nationals in the industry. These included:

• The mandatory requirement that at least one Saudi be present and employed in every boat that is 12 meters long or more.

• A freeze on the issuing of new licenses for artisanal shrimp fishing so that annual licenses are restricted to boat owners who are already in the business. Industrial shrimp fishing was not affected.

• A regulation that artisanal boat owners can only sell their fishing boats after two years from when their licenses are issued.

• A vessel reduction and consolidation program for the artisanal fishery whereby vessel owners are permitted to license new vessels of 12 m or more only by canceling the licenses of two smaller boats.

The regulations were partly in response to the major decline in the number of Saudi nationals employed in the fishing industry in the Arabian Gulf Provinces. This is a different situation than at least some of the Red Sea areas (e.g. Farasan Islands) where the majority of fishermen are Saudi nationals. The immediate impact of the initiatives was that Saudi Border Guards prevented 450 artisanal boats from fishing after the introduction of the new regulations.

In addition to specific fisheries management initiatives, a number of coastal environment rehabilitation projects have been undertaken, including replanting mangroves in both Red Sea and Arabian Gulf areas and the release of fry of sea bream and grouper for restocking purposes.

The industry, particularly the artisanal fishery, receives significant Government subsidies in the form of soft loans, grants and other assistance. These are provided to upgrade the capabilities of traditional vessels, and in the past, have been applied to programs such as the mechanization of traditional fishing vessels. At the present time, virtually all artisanal vessels are mechanized.

Stakeholder participation in the development of fisheries policy and management measures is through traditional discussions, often directly with the local senior representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water.

Research that is undertaken on marine fisheries is rarely directly focused on management issues but is more often designed to provide background biological information on the stocks. Such research on wild capture fisheries is carried out by major Universities, such as the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dammam and by the Marine Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water. Many fisheries and marine environment projects are undertaken by the Universities in collaboration with major Saudi companies (particularly Saudi Aramco) and international agencies. Fisheries aspects in the Red Sea are also being addressed by the major Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Environmental Strategic Action Program which is a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project being jointly executed by the World Bank, UNDP, and UNEP through the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA), based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Fisheries statistics are collected, interpreted and published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Water and, for the period 1993-1998, the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) provided support for the Ministry’s fisheries statistics collection program.

COSTS AND REVENUES OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

No separate data is freely available within the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Agriculture and Water on the costs that are directly attributable to fisheries management issues.

However, budgets for fisheries management have not changed significantly since the mid-1990s and, in real terms, have probably decreased.

The budget for fisheries management within the Ministry includes, as a major component, the costs of subsidized services and direct subsidies to the fishing industry.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GLOBAL FISHERIES MANDATES AND INITIATIVES

Saudi Arabia ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1996 but has not ratified the UN Fish Stocks Agreement or the UN Compliance Agreement.

Issues such as the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries have not been specifically incorporated into national legislation, but are used as a reference point for fisheries regulations.

The implementation of the provisions of International Plans of Action related to managing fishing capacity, IUU fishing, shark management and seabird by-catch in longline fisheries has not been pursued. As a result, no national plans of action for any of these issues are incorporated into national legislation.

PARTICIPATION IN REGIONAL FISHERY BODIES

The Regional Fisheries Commission (RECOFI) was formed in 1999 as a result of a resolution of the 117^th Session of the FAO Council and succeeded the IOC Committee on for the Development and Management of the Fishery Resources of the Gulfs (the Gulfs Committee). RECOFI has met twice, the last time in Oman in 2003 although there have been several ad hoc meetings arranged between member countries, most notably on management of shrimp resources and on aquaculture.

To date, RECOFI members have prepared background status reports for RECOFI Sessions on management of shrimp resources and on aquaculture in their respective countries. However, RECOFI is yet to agree on or to take initiatives in any aspect of regional fisheries management and has not yet addressed co-ordination of fisheries management, statistics collection or research between member countries and/or for shared stocks. The Commission does not yet have Working Groups to progress issues between Commission session meetings (which are currently held every two years), and is therefore wholly reliant on the part-time Secretariat to pursue Commission issues in the interim period between formal Session meetings. As a result, RECOFI is yet to realize its full potential as a regional coordinating body for fisheries management.

Saudi Arabia adopted the Agreement to form RECOFI on 3^rd November 2000 and has participated fully in the two RECOFI sessions that have been held and in its various ad hoc meetings.

Because RECOFI has not yet initiated any regional actions on fisheries management, research or statistics collection, Saudi Arabia, therefore, has not been required to address the issue of incorporating regional fisheries management issues into its national legislation.

However, the capability exists within Saudi Arabian fisheries legislation to implement many (but not all) fish stock conservation and management initiatives that may emanate from RECOFI in the future. There is, nevertheless, no legal requirement within the national legislation for regional fisheries management issues to be adopted although, by adopting the Agreement in November 2000 to establish RECOFI, Saudi Arabia has provided implicit endorsement that it would do so.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The landings from the marine fisheries of Saudi Arabia have remained steady at around 40 000 tonnes since the mid-1980s. However, fishing capacity has increased rapidly during this time, particularly in the Red Sea area, resulting in catch rates for most fisheries being significantly lower than the 1980s. By contrast, over the longer term (1989-2001), landings have increased in the Arabian Gulf area although in more recent years, these landings have also stabilized and, in select fisheries (particularly the shrimp fishery) have declined. In addition, as noted earlier, the number of fishing vessels operating in the Arabian Gulf may not be a reliable guide to fishing effort in recent years because of the incentives to replace existing vessels with larger ones during the period of the temporary ban on the issue of new licenses.

The long term control of fishing capacity, particularly in the Red Sea area would therefore seem to pose a significant and important challenge for the management authorities. This is a particular issue because of the traditional support for expansion and development of the Saudi-owned businesses (including subsidization) that operate in both the artisanal and industrial fisheries. To move from this environment to one of restriction and containment of these businesses will be difficult, but, in the long term, necessary.

Since many of the stocks that are exploited commercially by Saudi fishermen are regional in nature, regional co-operation with neighboring countries in management will also need to be developed. At the present time, the regional fisheries commission (RECOFI) is not able to effectively support or implement such regional co-operation although RECOFI has an important potential role to play in such regional management activities.

Finally, like other countries in the region, coastal development in both the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea areas appear to be adversely impacting coastal fisheries resources. These developments therefore need to be taken into account in developing a broader based approach to fisheries management in the Kingdom, which will necessarily include fishing capacity control.

REFERENCES

Kedidi, S. 1988. A summary review - Fisheries of Saudi Arabia. Agriculture Research Center of the Western Province. 11pp.

Ministry of Agriculture and Water. 2003. Fisheries statistics of Saudi Arabia, 2001. Department of Marine Fisheries.

Sakurai, T. 1998. Fisheries of Saudi Arabia. Report of Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and Ministry of Agriculture and Water, Department of Marine Fisheries. 48pp.

APPENDIX TABLES

Current management of marine capture fisheries in Saudi Arabia

n/a = not applicable

Use of fishery management tools within the three largest fisheries in Saudi Arabia

1. Apart from a closed season for shrimp
2. A closed season is in place for some reef species only (such as grouper) in the Red Sea.

Costs and funding sources of fisheries management within the three largest fisheries

Compliance and enforcement within the three largest fisheries in Saudi Arabia

Capacity management within the three largest fisheries in Saudi Arabia

1. The capacity reduction program in the industrial shrimp fleet was a voluntary and commercial decision taken by Saudi Fisheries Company

2. A freeze on the issue of new artisanal licenses is in place for both the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. In addition, the Arabian Gulf artisanal fisheries have a boat replacement policy in place in which vessel owners are permitted to license new vessels of 12 m or more only by cancelling the licenses of two smaller boats.