Subregional review: Northwest Indian Ocean

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

INTRODUCTION

The countries of the Near East that are considered in this regional review of the northwest Indian Ocean border the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman and Gulf of Aden. These sea areas lie between 12° north latitude and 30° north latitude and are generally characterized by very high air and water temperatures during summer, particularly in the shallow Gulf areas. The influence of the southwest monsoon is an important feature of the more southern areas and drives oceanic processes, including major upwellings, along the coasts of western India and Oman. In the northern areas, there is little freshwater input from either rain or major rivers and coasts usually border desert or arid mountain areas.

The countries covered by this review and the recorded marine fisheries landings for 2002 are shown in Table 1. The west coast of India dominates landings, accounting for around 62 percent of the total landings of 3 199 644 tonnes for these countries.

Production in the region is clearly concentrated in the high productivity areas of the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman,^[26] with the west coast of India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Oman and Pakistan (all of which have coasts in these areas) dominating the landings. In the other areas of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, landings are significantly less and generally reflect the much lower productivity of these areas, currently producing only about 3.7 percent of world landings of marine fish.

Marine fish landings of the region are, of course, a combination of the productivity, and therefore abundance of commercial marine fish species, and the fishing effort that is expended in capturing these fish. In many areas, marine fish resources are overexploited^[27] and management of marine fish resources is generally not well developed in the region.

Effective management of the marine resources of the region is complicated by the often shared nature of the resources, particularly (but not restricted to) pelagic species. This is further compounded by the lack of regional stock assessments of these resources and the general scarcity of information on major exploited fish stocks.

With shared stocks being a feature of the region, multilateral and bilateral cooperation in fisheries management is vital for overall management of marine fisheries. However, regional cooperation in fisheries management in the region is poorly developed. Although the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI) brings together the countries of the Gulf as well as Oman, it has not yet been able to address any regional management initiatives. There is no regional organization for fisheries management for the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden although fisheries issues are sometimes addressed within the broader context of marine environmental protection through the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA).^[28] There is no formal mechanism for bringing the major fish producers of India and Pakistan into regional management organizations with the other countries considered in this review. However, the extent of sharing of stocks between India in particular and the other countries of the region is probably not as great^[29] as the extent of stock sharing among other countries.

Countries of the region with significant or developing tuna fisheries^[30] are members of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission and there are a number of bilateral cooperation agreements in place. However, most of these bilateral agreements^[31] are development-orientated or technical cooperation agreements and have not been designed to address management of shared stocks.

Many of the countries of the region have introduced policies to develop their fisheries sector with such policies often including subsidies to fishers and fishing companies. In the same vein, fishing capacity limitation programmes are rare in the region.^[32] In addition, limited entry policies (where they exist) generally only apply to industrial fisheries and very few of the dominant artisanal fisheries have any barriers to entering the fishery. As a result, fishing effort has increased significantly in many countries since 1990, while landings have increased only by a very modest 12.3 percent over that same period (see Table 1). Comparatively, increases in landings elsewhere in the western Indian Ocean have been far greater, with the result that the landings from the countries considered in this review now comprise a smaller proportion of overall western Indian Ocean landings than they did in 1990 (Table 1).

TABLE 1
Landings of marine fish and seafood in 1990 and 2002 in the Northwest Indian Ocean

Note: Catch data include marine mammals, crocodiles, corals, pearls, sponges and aquatic plants.

¹ Data are for 1993 as previous data were included in Ethiopian statistics.

² No landings are recorded for Israel in 2002 although it is understood that some marine landings were made.

³ Landings reduced compared with the immediate preceding years because of invasion and occupation in August 1990.

⁴ These landings are the author’s estimates based on a new data collection system being introduced in the United Arab Emirates. The landings are significantly less than the previously reported landings for 1990 and 2002 of around 95 125 tonnes and 97 500 tonnes, respectively.

⁵ Not adjusted for author’s estimates.

Source: FAO, 2004a.

In those countries where entry restrictions to the artisanal fishery have been imposed, these restrictions have not been particularly effective because of loopholes in the regulations. For example, in Saudi Arabia, although there is a restriction on new entrants to the artisanal fishery and a boat replacement policy in place, these have been negated by fishers legally building larger vessels that can carry and operate more fishing gear (fish traps for example). As a result, fishing effort has continued to increase despite the entry restrictions.

Therefore, increases in fishing capacity and fishing effort, particularly in the dominant artisanal fisheries, have resulted in increasing pressure on many regionally important fish stocks and a number of these are now believed to be significantly overexploited.^[33] The exact status of many stocks is, however, not certain because of the lack of comprehensive stock assessment research in the region.^[34]

It is worthwhile noting that the landings of marine fish by many of the countries considered in this review have been impacted, and often dramatically so, by conflicts in the recent past. For example, the 1991 Gulf war resulted in the destruction of Kuwait’s fishing fleet with no landings being possible between August 1990 and about April 1991. Oil pollution, floating unexploded ordinance, reduction in sea water temperatures as a result of burning oil fires^[35] and destroyed infrastructure also impacted the fisheries of Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. In Eritrea, conflicts following independence in the early 1990s hampered the development of a viable fishing industry, while the capacity for national fisheries management was severely degraded for a number of years following the reunification of Yemen during the 1990s.

The impacts of such conflicts and other emergency situations on national capacities to manage fisheries and also on fisheries infrastructure and the landings themselves are rarely considered in overall national fisheries policy development. However, the frequency of such events in the region makes these impacts an important part of overall food security and fisheries planning.

Despite these difficulties, there are indications that the management of fisheries in a number of countries in the region is being brought under control and, in particular, the issue of controlling and limiting fishing capacity is slowly being addressed. However, given that many of the region’s fisheries are based on small-scale artisanal fisheries rather than industrial fisheries, the social and microeconomic implications of such fishing restrictions will need careful management.

REGIONAL FISHERIES POLICY FRAMEWORK

The policy framework of countries in the region is rarely stated explicitly, although some legislation (particularly that of Djibouti, Eritrea and Oman) specifies the overall objectives of fisheries management. In the general absence of such an explicit policy framework, the author has used (a) information from discussions with fisheries management agencies, (b) the form and content of the national fisheries legislation, (c) the way in which national legislation is interpreted by the management agency and, most importantly, (d) the actions and the priorities of the management agency, to deduce the policy framework of countries within the region.

There is no agreed marine fisheries policy framework for the region and regional coordination in setting a consistent policy framework is weak or non-existent. This is mainly a result of both the need for individual countries to retain sovereignty over the fish resources in their territorial waters and also the weakness, or absence, of organizations that are active in developing consistent management approaches for the region. As noted earlier, such a regional focus for management is potentially important in the region because of the shared nature of many of the fish stocks.

The policy framework in place within the region is more often than not development orientated, despite many fish stocks being considered overexploited. Management based on principles of ecologically sustainable development (ESD), or some other recognition of the need for long-term sustainable management of exploited fish stocks, is rare in the region and is only mentioned as a management objective in the fisheries legislation of Djibouti and Eritrea. As an example of this development-orientated approach, the objectives of fisheries management in Oman are listed as:

• development and modernization of the fisheries sector;

• development of fisheries exports;

• enhancement of economic diversification of the country through fisheries development;

• development of fisheries-related industries;

• development of aquaculture projects;

• enhancement of the future production and value of Oman's coastal fisheries and the well-being of the people and coastal communities.

In India, there is an additional complication in overall policy objectives, resulting from overlapping legislation at the Union (i.e. national) level and at the state level, as well as various pieces of legislation at both levels impacting on fisheries management and development.^[36] However, much of the legislation is clearly development oriented and it is only the Marine Products Export Development Authority Act of 1972 that mentions sustainable management and conservation of deep sea and offshore fish resources.

The reason for the lack of a sustainable development orientation to policy framework in the region^[37] is almost certainly related to the age of the underlying legislation. Much of the basic fisheries legislation is relatively old^[38] and it is the newer legislation, such as that in Djibouti (2002), Eritrea (1998) and the Sudan’s twenty-five years Fisheries Strategy (2002), that incorporates such sustainable development principles. In most countries with older legislation, the legislation is often seen as a basis for the administration of fisheries rather than a policy framework for the long-term management of the fisheries sector. As an administrative framework, older legislation can, and is, periodically modified to update administrative requirements and procedures but the basic philosophy and policy framework under which fisheries are managed are not changed by such modifications.

An important step forward for most of the countries in the region would therefore be to undertake a review of their basic fisheries laws and redraft them as the basis for the management, as well as the administration, of fisheries on a long-term sustainable basis.

The fisheries in the region are dominated by artisanal fisheries^[39] and most governments have policies in place to upgrade this sector.^[40] Such encouragement of the artisanal sector includes direct and indirect subsidies, which are widespread in the region. For example, India has five separate, centrally-funded programmes to develop coastal marine fisheries:

• assistance to fishers for the motorization of traditional craft (direct subsidies);

• introduction of plywood and intermediate craft;

• reimbursement of central excise duty on HSD oil^[41] used in mechanized vessels;

• assistance to maritime state governments to enforce fisheries regulations (providing patrol boats); and

• resource enhancement through creation of artificial reefs and subsidization of mariculture.

It must be noted, however, that the scope of these programmes is subject to budget constraints and may not necessarily represent significantly large programmes or programmes that are undertaken on a continuous basis.

In addition to this, the Indian Government supports the construction of major and minor fishing ports, bearing all the costs of major developments and entering into cost-sharing arrangements with state governments for smaller projects.

Similarly, most of the Gulf countries provide extensive subsidies to their artisanal fisheries and the extent of the subsidies is usually related to the government’s capacity to continue these extensive subsidization programmes. The more wealthy Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates offer generous support to their artisanal (and sometimes industrial) fisheries^[42] whereas the support offered by other, less wealthy countries is more modest.

REGIONAL LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

All national fisheries legislation in the region, with the exception of that in Jordan, nominates a management agency that is specifically responsible for the management and development of marine fisheries. The agencies in all countries are either specific fisheries ministries or identified departments within a larger organization, usually an Agriculture ministry. In no instance is fisheries management linked to an environment ministry, which is consistent with the development rather than the preservation focus throughout the region. For a similar reason, environmental legislation generally impinges only marginally on fisheries legislation and, when it does, it is for specific purposes or areas such as marine parks. Formal coordination between environmental and fisheries agencies is not common, although in many countries^[43] ad hoc or permanent marine environment committees often include a member from the fisheries management agency.^[44]

As noted above, the age of national fisheries legislation is one of the key factors in determining overall national policy framework, with older legislation having a more development focus while newer legislation often incorporates concepts such as sustainable development. Because the age of the legislation is so critical, Table 2 provides data on the year in which the basic fisheries legislation for each country was introduced.

TABLE 2
Year in which current basic fisheries legislation was introduced

In total, national fisheries legislation in 12 of the 18 countries was introduced prior to the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which established the principles of ecologically sustainable development (ESD). Only four of the countries considered have legislation that postdates the Rio Declaration. Of these four countries, only two have legislation that incorporates the principles of ESD.

Only the legislation of Djibouti and Eritrea specifically include provisions for the preparation of management plans for fisheries^[45] and also for consultative mechanisms to involve stakeholders^[46] in the preparation and review of these management plans. Management plans are therefore a rarity in the region and, at present (2004) no fisheries-specific management plans are in place for any major fishery in the region.^[47] Such management plans would, of course, assist greatly in the management of shared stocks in particular, of which there are many in the region.

At-sea fisheries enforcement is rarely undertaken by the management agency themselves^[48] in countries in the region. Instead, arrangements are in place for either the coast guard or the navy (or both) to enforce fisheries legislation, often as part of their regular patrol duties. The coordination between the management agency and the enforcement agency is rarely close or formalized, which is not surprising considering the lack of management plans and therefore the lack of a common policy framework within which both management and enforcement agencies can work. More importantly, the funding for fisheries enforcement often comes directly from the enforcement agency’s budget rather than the management agency’s.^[49] In contrast, the management agencies in all countries are responsible for and undertake^[50] monitoring activities at landing sites and in markets with these activities often being combined with statistics collection activities.

STATE OF FISHERIES IN THE REGION

The fisheries of the region are dominated by small-scale, artisanal fisheries with over 80 percent of the 2002 landings originating from these fisheries. While industrial-scale fisheries are important in countries such as India, Iran, Oman, Pakistan and Yemen, other countries (particularly the Gulf countries) have seen their industrial fisheries reduced either because of government policy (e.g. in Djibouti, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen) or because declining stocks^[51] have made such fisheries uneconomic (e.g. in Bahrain and Qatar).

The main commercial species in the region are shown in Table 3, together with the countries in which they are fished and their probable (or actual) status. The assessment of the status of the stocks is based on (often scarce) analyses done on a national basis and amalgamated across the region. The assessments are therefore the author’s opinion, based on published data, the details of which can be found in individual country reviews. Although the same species might be fished in a number of countries, this does not necessarily imply that the stocks of these species in different countries are interdependent. The extent of stock interdependence is simply not known for most species in the region.

During the ten-year period 1992-2002, total demersal fish landings (for the species shown in Table 3) have decreased by 4.8 percent, small pelagic landings have increased by 18.8 percent and large pelagic landings have increased by 21.8 percent. This is an interesting development, as FAO concluded recently, that large pelagic resources were among the few stocks in the region that were underexploited (FAO, 1997). Since that time, exploitation rates and landings of these species have increased at a faster rate than other species groups.^[52]

Despite the decline in catches of demersal species during the past decade, these species remain the most important group in regional fish landings. These species are taken by many of the artisanal fisheries in the region and, as shown in Table 3, are widespread throughout all countries in the region. In contrast, the significant fisheries for small pelagic species are often confined to a few countries and are based on a small number of species, particularly those off the west coast of India and Pakistan, including the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. Such areas correspond to major areas of upwelling. Some of these species (e.g. Indian mackerel) have suffered declines in landings over the past decade while other fisheries, such as for Indian oil sardine, have developed to take their place.

Demersal species are fully or overexploited in many countries in the region, with the possible exceptions of Djibouti and Eritrea. In the Arabian, or Persian, Gulf, the catch of some major demersal finfish species (such as grouper) is in decline in all countries. 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. Similarly, pelagic fisheries in the Gulf (particularly for kingfish, Scomberomorus commerson) are in decline with overexploitation being the most likely cause.

High-value species are particularly overexploited throughout the region. In Oman, there have been concerns for many years regarding the status of the stocks of the rock lobster and abalone stocks and, to a lesser extent, the demersal resources, particularly cuttlefish. Rock lobster landings have decreased substantially to approximately 350 tonnes in 2001 from levels around 2 000 tonnes per annum in the late 1980s. This dramatic decline in landings paralleled similar major declines in landings of this species in Yemen (including the Socotra Islands) at the same time. This collapse was attributed to the widespread use of nets rather than traps to capture lobsters (resulting in many undersized and egg-bearing animals being taken) as well as increasing and unregulated fishing effort. Illegal entry of unregistered and unlicensed boats put further pressure on the stocks. In addition, lobster stocks on the west coast of India and Somalia have also suffered major decreases in landings over the past ten years as a result of overexploitation.

Shrimp fisheries are important, high-value fisheries throughout the region (see Table 3) and are fished by both artisanal and industrial vessels. Although total landings of all species remained at around 270 000-300 000 tonnes^[53] per annum until about 1998, these landings were only maintained in most areas^[54] by substantial increases in fishing effort. Since 1998, total landings have fallen each year until 2002, with these reductions being attributable to overexploitation in all major shrimp fishing countries, often exacerbated by the declining health of coastal marine environments. In the Gulf, shrimp resources are overexploited in Bahrain, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with both Bahrain and Qatar having suspended their industrial shrimp fishing activities. In the Red Sea, the shrimp fishery has been the subject of significant management attention and closed seasons, gear restrictions and closed areas are in place in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. However, the resources may be being exploited beyond the maximum sustainable yield estimated previously.

TABLE 3
The major marine fisheries of the Northwest Indian Ocean countries

Source: FAO, 2004a.

There appear to be few stocks that remain underexploited. Small pelagic resources in the Gulf of Aden (off the coasts of Djibouti and Eritrea) have been identified as being capable of additional exploitation (Kunzel, Darar and Vakily, 1996, Grofit, 1971, Ghebremariam and Ghebretensae, 2000) and there may be some additional potential in large pelagic (particularly tuna) resources in the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, although fishing effort in these offshore fisheries has increased in the past decade as have landings.

The most important large resource in the region that is not currently exploited to any great extent is the mesopelagic species of the Gulf of Oman. The biomass of these mesopelagic fish (lanternfish) was estimated (Vidal-Junemann, 1981, Scharfe, 1983 and subsequent surveys by the R/V Rastrelliger in 1989-1990) to be 4 490 000 tonnes, (4 000 000 tonnes in Gulf of Oman and 490 000 tonnes in the Arabian Sea). Based on various assumptions, it has been estimated that the potential annual yield of the lanternfish stock could approach that of its standing stock biomass.

Although there have been attempts at capturing and processing the large stocks of deepwater lanternfish, this has not been successful and, to date, no commercial landings have been made. In 2003, however, the Iranian fishing industry established a fishery for lanternfish in Iranian waters in the Gulf of Oman and has successfully processed these into fish meal. Such developments may open this apparently large resource to exploitation.

A critical issue for the region in assessing the status of marine fish stocks is the lack of primary data and the lack of analyses upon which to base meaningful stock assessments.^[55] Many countries (such as Eritrea, Israel, Jordan, Somalia, the Sudan, etc.) have either no information or old information on the status of fish stocks in their areas upon which to base management plans, while others (e.g. Djibouti, India, Oman, Yemen, etc.) have more recent analyses, although such analyses are usually made difficult because of the shared nature of the stocks in question (Sanders and Morgan, 1989). Of particular concern is the degradation, rather than improvement, in the information available upon to which to base stock assessments in some countries such as Kuwait and Oman. There is an urgent need not only to upgrade the information base on exploited marine fisheries resources in the region but also to use this information in undertaking assessments of the major fish stocks, on a regional basis if appropriate. Without such information, it is unlikely that the management of marine stocks in the region will improve.

REGIONAL MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY

As noted above, there is no regional management of any stock although many stocks are undoubtedly shared between countries in the region. A regional fisheries commission (RECOFI) was formed in 1999 and brings together the countries of the Gulf, including the Islamic Republic of Iran and Oman. However, to date, RECOFI has not implemented any regional management initiatives. The other countries of the region, particularly those bordering the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have no regional management organization to coordinate management arrangements, although the Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA) includes fisheries issues in its considerations, but from an environmental protection, not a management, viewpoint.

Countries within the region therefore manage marine fisheries within their territorial waters at a national level, despite the obvious shared nature of many stocks. In undertaking such management, the extensive artisanal fisheries of the region are generally managed to a lesser extent than the industrial fisheries, which often have limited entry provisions and other management conditions applied to them. Limited entry provisions and the control of fishing capacity within the artisanal sector is rare in the region with only Saudi Arabia having addressed this issue, albeit not entirely successfully.

The tools used for managing marine fisheries at the national level vary from one country to the next, although the development-orientated policies of many countries generally result in tools that encourage exploitation and expansion of the sector (particularly the artisanal sector) rather than imposing restrictions on their activities. Such encouragement includes the widespread use of direct and indirect subsidies, particularly in those richer countries that can afford an extensive subsidization scheme.

In India, the Ministry of Environment and Forests functions as the national focal point for a number of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 1973 (CITES) and the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992 (CBD). The Ministry is also gradually introducing measures for the protection and management of marine resources (Matthew, 2003). This is in contrast with the production and growth-oriented policies pursued by the Ministry of Agriculture, other Union ministries and State departments and agencies dealing directly with fisheries. This symbolizes a step forward in terms of legislating for the sustainable management of fisheries resources.

Table 4 provides details on the general management tools used by each country in the region and shows both the differences in management activity between artisanal and industrial fisheries and also the generally poorly developed management activities for managing fishing capacity in the region.

TABLE 4
Management activity for the major artisanal and industrial fisheries in the countries of the region

Note: n/a = not available
1. Except for cuttlefish taken by the industrial fleet
2. Except for lobster and abalone where a closed season is in place but not well enforced
3. Except for the gillnet fishery for kingfish, where a closed season is in place but not well enforced
4. Except for shrimp
5. Only for the demersal trawl fishery. There are no temporal restrictions on the purse seine fishery
6. Except for Saganab atoll, which is closed to fishing

In Table 4, the lack of output management in the region is apparent with virtually all fisheries (where they are managed) being managed by input controls.^[56] Fishing licences are required by both artisanal and industrial fishing vessels and fishers in almost all countries, and the licence fees comprise the greatest (and often only) income from the fisheries sector to support fisheries management.

The effectiveness of enforcement of management regulations in the region is a major issue and is generally very weak. As a result, illegal fishing is common throughout the region. Enforcement is most often performed by agencies other than the fisheries management agency^[57] and usually by national coast guards, police or the navy. Enforcement of fisheries regulations is therefore most usually undertaken as part of other marine patrol duties and, as a result, fisheries are not often seen as a focus of attention. Some countries, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran and Oman have introduced vessel monitoring system technology (VMS) to assist in monitoring the activities of industrial fisheries (FAO, 2000). However, securing prosecution using this technology remains problematic because of the nature of the fisheries legislation and the lack of specific legislative acceptance of VMS information as evidence.

COSTS AND REVENUES OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

In no country in the region are the participants in the fisheries sector required to pay the full cost of management, research or enforcement for the sector and the concept of “the user pays” is unknown in the area. Governments receive revenues from marine fishing activities from two main sources: (a) licence fees paid by fishers for vessels and fishers’ licences; and (b) royalty payments for foreign industrial fishing where such fisheries exist.^[58]

Licence fee revenues are generally small and neither reflect nor are related to the actual cost of the management of fisheries. In some countries, these licence fees are not paid to the fisheries management authority but to general government revenues (Ministry of Finance or similar), and even where they are paid to the management agency, they do not constitute a major source of income for the management authority’s total annual revenue. Royalties, however, where they exist, can be substantial. In countries such as Eritrea that are pursuing a policy of developing their industrial fisheries, the revenues from this source are increasing - in Eritrea in 2003, royalties reached US$ 3 million per annum. In contrast, in Oman, royalty payments have been decreasing as industrial landings have decreased and the species mix of landings change,^[59] and this has led to a decline in royalties of over 61 percent since 1995 and 15 percent between 1999 and 2000 alone. At the present time, these royalties are approximately US$ 1.01 million per annum.

Despite the importance in some countries of royalty payments from foreign industrial fishing, the greatest part (and often the sole source) of revenue to the fisheries management agency in all countries is from annual government budget allocations. These, of course, are subject to change according to national priorities, and in many countries (for example, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others), there has been a declining trend in funding to the fisheries management agency for marine fisheries management although activities such as aquaculture development often receive substantial funding.

Because of the lack of any “user-pays” principle and there being no explicit relation between the costs of required management and revenues, fisheries management agencies invariably adjust their management and supporting activities to the level of annual government appropriations. This, in recent years, has been sufficient to maintain basic management administration of licensing, monitoring, enforcement and research in almost all countries,^[60] although more ambitious programmes (particularly research) often cannot be funded nationally. In some countries (e.g. Djibouti, Eritrea, and Yemen) international and bilateral aid has assisted in undertaking research and capacity-building projects that otherwise could not be funded by the national fisheries management agency and that, in these countries, are important in providing basic information and capabilities upon which to base management decisions.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GLOBAL FISHERIES MANDATES AND INITIATIVES

Most countries have signed or ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) although ratification of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement or the UN Compliance Agreement is less common. Table 5 provides a summary of the status of ratification of each of these global fisheries mandates. Most countries bordering the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden^[61] have also signed the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERGSA).

TABLE 5
Status of UNCLOS, UN Fish Stocks Agreement and UN Compliance Agreement

Individual countries’ performance on implementing International Programmes of Action (IPOAs) has varied. India, for example, has been active in developing national plans of action to address a number of issues. Ten species of endangered shark have come under the ambit of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, and research programmes are being directed at this particular resource.^[62] A subgroup has been constituted to assess fishing capacity, and the government intends to have capacity measured by 2005. In addition to this, the new deep-sea policy is mentioned in the capacity study, and is expected to address these issues.

The extent of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and related problems are also being assessed by a subgroup, which will suggest a set of appropriate measures to be taken based on FAO recommendations (FAO, 2001). The dual registration and flag hopping for foreign vessels registered under Indian companies and seabird impact (which is considered a minor problem in Indian fisheries) have not yet been addressed.

In Oman, there are regulations in place to address the finning of sharks and their utilization.

Beyond these two country examples, however, there have been no other regional or national initiatives to address managing fishing capacity, IUU fishing, shark management and seabird bycatch in longline fisheries. The reason often cited is that the issues are not considered important in the countries of the region. This is probably the case with some issues such as seabird bycatch by longlines but managing fishing capacity, IUU fishing and shark management have direct relevance in the region. The lack of action on these international fisheries initiatives is again a result of the development-orientated nature of fisheries policy of countries in the region and the absence or early stage of development of effective regional fisheries bodies. As a result, no national or regional 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 and brings together in annual meetings Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. All countries, with the exception of Iraq, participate fully in the activities of RECOFI and its various working groups. However, RECOFI has yet to implement any regional fisheries management initiatives.

No other regional fisheries bodies exist that bring together the countries of the region. Furthermore, India, which is by far the major fish producer of the region, is not represented in any regional fisheries body. As noted earlier, PERSGA addresses fisheries issues within the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region but with a focus on regional marine environmental issues rather than regional fisheries management.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Fisheries management in the region is characterized by the following four factors:

• the almost total absence of comprehensive stock assessments of major exploited marine resources upon which to base management decisions, combined with a generally poor statistical database on landings (and their composition) and fishing effort;

• the regional and shared nature of many of the fish stocks that is in contrast to the poorly developed institutions for regional management;

• the development orientation of national fisheries legislation and policy^[63] in most countries despite the apparent over- or fully exploited status of many fish stocks; and

• a general lack of success at the regional and national level in measuring and controlling fishing capacity, particularly in the large and important artisanal sector.

The combination of these four factors has resulted in increasing pressure on exploited stocks. In 1997, FAO concluded that large pelagic resources were among the few stocks in the region that were underexploited and it is these stocks that have shown the greatest increase in landings since that time. Stocks that were considered overexploited in 1997, such as shrimp stocks in a number of countries, the rock lobster stocks of Oman/Somalia/Yemen and many of the demersal species (particularly grouper in the Gulf) taken by fish traps, remain overexploited and there has not been any instance of a stock rehabilitation programme being implemented.^[64]

The pressure on exploited stocks is further aggravated by widespread illegal fishing, ranging from illegal foreign fishing in the waters of Eritrea, Somalia and other countries to local, national illegal fishing such as the rock lobster stocks of Oman and Yemen. Fisheries enforcement, particularly of local artisanal fisheries in the region is weak and only three countries utilize VMS as a technological aid to assist in minimizing illegal fishing.

In many countries in the region, the nature of both legislation and the activities of fisheries agencies is one of administration (through licensing and administering subsidization programmes, etc.) rather than management in accordance with a well-defined long-term strategic plan to ensure sustainability of the resource.^[65] Despite being administered, many of the fisheries in the region are therefore essentially unregulated in that fishing capacity is not controlled, although gear restrictions are common. In the absence of a long-term, strategic approach to management for stock sustainability, it is therefore not surprising that fisheries management plans are almost unknown in the region.

However, some progress is being made. In addition to the newer legislation of Eritrea and Djibouti that emphasizes management according to the principles of ecologically sustainable development, Yemen is also in the process of reforming its approach to fisheries management and is investing in better information and research bases. Sudan is basing its fisheries management on a 25-year-strategic plan while Oman, the United Arab Emirates and other countries have established a planning framework (often five years) for fisheries. These latter plans, however, remain development orientated and do not take into account the issues of managing for sustainability and the urgent need to measure and control fishing capacity.

The development of strong regional fisheries commissions would be a major step forward in both adopting the necessary regional management of the many shared stocks and also in moving towards a more strategic approach to fisheries management based on good information and within a framework of long-term sustainable stock management.

REFERENCES

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