Country review: Iraq

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

INTRODUCTION

Iraq has only a small coastline to the marine areas of the Gulf that separates the Arabian Peninsula and Iran and, as a result, its marine fisheries (which have always been a minor component of total fisheries production, being overshadowed by freshwater fish production and freshwater aquaculture) have traditionally been concentrated in the northwestern part of that Gulf. Since 1991, Iraq’s marine fisheries have undergone major changes as a result of, first, UN sanctions imposed following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and secondly, as a result of the forced change of Government in Iraq in 2003.

These two major events have impacted marine fisheries and marine fisheries management in Iraq in a number of ways. Immediately following the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991 and the subsequent imposition of UN sanctions, the marine areas of the northern Gulf could not be fished. Unexploded ordinance (including sea mines) and naval patrols by non-Iraqi forces essentially closed the fishing areas around Bubiyan and Warba Islands and the Shatt al-Arab waterway to any type of commercial fishing activity. As a result, marine fisheries production from Iraq dropped from around 4000-5000 tonnes prior to 1991 to essentially zero in 1991 and 1992.

As marine areas in the northern Gulf became safer for navigation and fishing, marine fisheries production from Iraq increased to pre-invasion levels by 1994/95. However, the budget and infrastructure resources available to the fisheries management agency (Ministry of Agriculture, through the General Authority for Animal Resources Development, Fisheries Department) for fisheries management and development declined rapidly after 1991, partly as a result of UN economic sanctions. This reduction in effectiveness of the fisheries management authority resulted in a decline in monitoring, management and enforcement activities for marine fisheries during the 1990s.

During the 1990s, marine fishing therefore became essentially unregulated and production increased rapidly to over 13 000 tonnes by the late 1990s. Precise statistics on production during this time are, however, not available since the ability of the fisheries management agency to collect, analyze and disseminate accurate production statistics also declined.

In addition to increasing unregulated fishing, marine fisheries production was also impacted to a significant extent in the mid-late 1990s by the major environmental issues of reduced flow of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (a result of damming on the upper reaches of these rivers) and the draining of the marshes in the Shatt al-Arab delta. Marine production probably declined as a result of these two factors (particularly for species such as shad, Tenuolosa spp.) although precise statistics are not available.

Since the change of Government in Iraq in 2003, Iraqi fishermen have been expanding their fishing activities southwards, particularly along the east coast of Bubiyan and Warba Islands and also appear to be operating illegally in the waters of Kuwait and, at a lesser extent, the Islamic Republic of Iran. This expansion of fishing activity is totally unregulated and involves both trawling activities in Khor Abdullah by steel-hulled dhows and a significant amount of gillnetting activity in both Khor Abdullah and Khor Sabiyah, between the coast of Kuwait and the east coast of Bubiyan Island. Although there is a Kuwaiti Coast Guard station in the area, they have not to date curtailed the activities of these vessels.

As a result of this expansion in fishing activity, it is believed that both fishing effort and landings of marine fish species into Iraq (mainly Basrah and Umm Qasr) have increased significantly during the latter part of 2003 and 2004 with landings having probably returned to the high values of 12 000-13 000 tonnes seen in the late 1990s. Again, no detailed data are available.

All marine fisheries in Iraq are artisanal in nature with no large-scale industrial fisheries currently being undertaken. Most trawling activities are undertaken by traditional dhows, operating small, single nets. Gillnetting for pomphret (Pampus spp), shad (Tenuolosa spp) and mullet (Liza spp) is a major activity and is the dominant marine fishery in Iraq. Not surprisingly, there are no recreational marine fisheries in Iraq.

Iraq is currently facing a number of major challenges to bring its marine fisheries under control again. The infrastructure of the fisheries management authority needs rebuilding so that monitoring and management measures can be developed, implemented and enforced. In particular, enforcement issues need urgent attention. Marine habitat changes (particularly a result of the draining of the Iraqi marshes and reduction in freshwater inflow from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers) have become a major area of concern.

Most importantly, because Iraq’s marine fisheries are small and the stocks upon which they rely are shared with other countries of the region, regional co-operation in fisheries management is essential for Iraq, as well as for other countries in the region. The Regional Fisheries Commission (RECOFI) provides the vehicle for such co-operation and can provide valuable assistance in future management initiatives for the stocks upon which Iraq’s marine fisheries depend.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The national authority with responsibility for fisheries management in Iraq is the Ministry of Agriculture, through the General Authority for Animal Resources Development, Fisheries Department. This General Authority was established in 1989. Before that the General Authority for Fish Resources Development was responsible for marine fisheries management.

In the 18 provinces of Iraq there are sections (divisions) for fish resources that are part of the Ministry of Agriculture and these operate through the local agriculture authority in each province. The most important of these for marine fisheries is the local authority in Basrah Province.

Following the change of Government in 2003, it is unclear whether this structure will be retained.

There are currently no management plans in place for any of Iraq’s fisheries and, apart from an un-enforced regulation specifying mesh sizes in gillnets, the marine fisheries are essentially unmanaged.

As a result, fisheries policy has tended to be ad hoc and the few management measures that have been introduced have been done so to address short-term, specific problems. Previous policy directions for marine fisheries in Iraq have concentrated on development issues, rather than management. In particular, the previous Government identified the encouragement of private-sector investment in marine fisheries as a major policy objective.

Subsidized services (such as engine and net repair etc) to the marine fishing industry have traditionally been a feature of the Iraqi Government’s fisheries activities and such subsidies continued to a limited extent after 1991. However, as items such as parts for repairing motors and netting materials became scarce as a result of UN sanctions, these subsidized activities necessarily declined.

The Marine Sciences Centre of Basrah University has undertaken some research that supported marine fisheries-related development and management initiatives. However, since 1991, the MSC has also suffered from a lack of infrastructure, financial resources, equipment and other resources to undertake effective research. The research undertaken by the MSC was often undertaken with the co-operation of the Basrah Fisherman’s Co-operative, to which the majority of marine fishers in Iraq belong. In addition, the MSC had undertaken, prior to 1991, joint research on marine fish stocks with the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research.

International fisheries issues are also the responsibility of the General Authority of the Ministry of Agriculture. However, Iraq has not participated in the activities of the Regional Fisheries Commission (RECOFI) and regional co-operation is weak or virtually non-existent, both on a bilateral basis and through RECOFI. Iraq ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1985 but has not ratified the UN Fish Stocks Agreement or the FAO Compliance Agreement.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Fisheries Department of the General Authority for Animal Resources Development administers the basic national fisheries legislation, which is the Law no. 48 for 1976 on the regulation and development of fisheries. The Ministry of Agriculture, through the General Authority, issues regulations under this Law, according to need. The flavor of the Law is very much concerned with fisheries administration and overall policy objectives of fisheries management are not explicitly stated within this basic Law.

Although this basic fisheries Law has not been formally updated since 1976, it is, in effect, periodically updated through the mechanism of issuing additional Regulations as needed to address specific issues.

Iraq ratified UNCLOS at an early date (1985) and its territorial seas are defined through the UNCLOS process with marine boundaries having being established with all neighboring States.

Local legislation regulating coastal development and the operation of fisheries infrastructure, such as ports, markets, landing sites etc, also impacts significantly on fisheries management legislation.

STATUS OF THE FISHERIES

Adequate statistics on marine fisheries production in Iraq have not been collected for some years, with the statistics collection system slowly deteriorating throughout the 1990s. In addition, no assessment of the stocks of any of the main marine species has been undertaken during the past 15 years. Despite this, it is known that marine fisheries production virtually ceased during 1991 and 1992 as a result of the dangers of navigating in the northern Gulf at that time. However, from 1993, landings slowly returned to pre-1991 levels of 5 000-6 000 tonnes. As the management authority’s ability to adequately manage marine fisheries declined during the 1990s, unregulated fishing expanded rapidly, resulting in landings increasing to around 11 000-12 000 tonnes by the late 1990s. Environmental issues, including the reduction in freshwater flow from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the draining of the marshes in southern Iraq, also apparently impacted on fish resources and landings in the late 1990s. However, since species composition of landings is not available, the precise impacts of these environmental changes cannot be estimated.

Following the change of Government in 2003, fisheries production from marine areas has expanded rapidly during the latter part of 2003 and 2004. This expansion has been totally unregulated and has apparently included significant illegal fishing in Kuwait waters and, to a lesser extent, the waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

As a result of these changes, and despite the lack of any formal assessment of the stocks of marine fish taken by the Iraqi fleet, it is probable that a number of key species are being over-exploited in recent years as unregulated fishing expands. In particular, the pomphret (Pampus spp) and the shad (Tenuolosa spp), both valuable species in Iraq, would appear to be under threat from small mesh gillnets. These stocks are certainly shared with the neighboring countries of Kuwait and the Islamic Republic of Iran and hence any increased exploitation of these stocks by the Iraqi fleet may impact the landings by these other countries.

With the recent southwards expansion of unregulated (and often illegal) trawling in 2003 and 2004, significant catches of shrimp (particularly Metapenaeus affinis) are now being taken, often from northern Kuwait waters. Since these stocks are shared with Kuwait and the Islamic Republic of Iran, this unregulated fishing may impact on the landings from these countries.

Other species, such as mullet (Liza spp) are not as localized to the northwestern part of the Gulf as other major commercial species and therefore are probably not under as a great a threat from over-exploitation.

The characteristics of the largest marine fisheries in Iraq, all of which are artisanal in nature, are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1
Characteristics of the major fisheries of Iraq

* Estimated Value in 2002 U.S. Dollars.

The major issue of changing marine environmental conditions in the northern Gulf may, however, overshadow the effects of increased unregulated fishing. Unfortunately, neither data on the impacts of those changing conditions on the marine environment nor data on the changes in species composition of commercial landings are available to assess the relative importance of these factors.

MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY

There are no stated national objectives or goals regarding management of any of Iraq’s marine fisheries and no management plans exist for any of the country’s fisheries.

In addition, management activities (through the issuing of Regulations pursuant to the basic Fisheries Law) have been minimal for Iraq’s marine fisheries. A licensing system is in place although the issue of fishing licenses is unrestricted. A 50 mm mesh size regulation is also in place for marine gillnets.

However, the effectiveness of enforcement of these few regulations is minimal and has deteriorated further during the 1990s to the point where they are now widely ignored.

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. In this regard, the Basrah Fishermen’s Cooperative is an important body that represents the interests of a significant proportion of marine fishermen.

COSTS AND REVENUES OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

No separate data is maintained within the Iraqi General Authority for Animal Resources Development on the costs that are directly attributable to fisheries management issues. However, since 1991, budgets for fisheries management have decreased dramatically, significantly impacting the ability of the General Authority to deliver fisheries management services.

In addition, the costs of subsidized services to the fishing industry has also declined since 1991, a result of the lack of items (partly as a result of UN sanctions) such as engine parts and netting material to provide these services^[321].

IMPLEMENTATION OF GLOBAL FISHERIES MANDATES AND INITIATIVES

Iraq ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1985 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 incorporated into national legislation.

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

Iraq has not participated in the Regional Commission on Fisheries (RECOFI) and has not participated in most of the meetings and working groups of the Commission. This lack of participation has been partly a result of the lack of funds to attend the RECOFI meetings. However, there is no real commitment to regional fisheries management by members of RECOFI and, as a result, the Commission is singularly ineffective in developing and implementing regional fisheries management initiatives.

As a result of this ineffectiveness of RECOFI, there have been no regional fisheries management initiatives emanating from RECOFI. Iraq, therefore, has not been required to incorporate regional fisheries management issues into its national legislation.

There is, however, no legal requirement within the Iraqi fisheries legislation for fisheries management issues that may be adopted by RECOFI (or other regional body) to be incorporated into national legislation.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Since 1991, the management of marine fisheries in Iraq has declined significantly in effectiveness, to the point where, currently, (2004) marine fisheries are totally unregulated. This has resulted in significant increases in fishing effort since 2003, with a corresponding increase in landings, although precise statistics are not available.

Moreover, this unregulated fishing has moved southwards, particularly into the northern waters of Kuwait and is therefore posing a threat to the marine fish stocks that Iraq share with Kuwait. Enforcement of the basic fisheries regulations by Iraqi authorities has declined during the 1990s to virtually zero while Kuwait authorities have been reticent to act against illegal fishing in their waters by Iraqi fishermen. Rapidly escalating trawl-fishing activities in Khor Abdullah and in northern Kuwait waters has resulted in Iraqi vessels now taking and landing significant quantities of shrimp, a species that has not previously been landed in Iraq in large numbers.

It is clear that this unregulated fishing needs to be brought under control quickly if further declines of the shared fish and shrimp stocks of the northern Gulf are to be avoided.

Added to this problem of escalating unregulated fishing is the environmental problems of reduced inflow of freshwater from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the draining of the marshes in southern Iraq^[322]. These two major impacts are influencing the hydrographic environment of the northern Gulf (and further south) although the precise impacts on species composition and abundance of commercial fisheries are as yet uncertain. These environmental issues may take longer to address than the issue of unregulated fishing.

Even if Iraq is able to bring its fisheries under better management, the apparent shared nature of many stocks with other countries in the region and the weakness of the regional fisheries management commission, RECOFI, may limit the effectiveness of such national action in fisheries management.

APPENDIX TABLES

Current management of marine capture fisheries in Iraq

(1) All vessels are required to be licensed but, beyond that, there is little effective management.
n/a = not applicable

Use of fishery management tools within the largest fisheries in Iraq

n/a = not applicable

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

(1) Management agency receives an annual budget from the central Govt. Fisheries license fees charged are not specifically allocated to fisheries management activities.

n/a = not applicable

Compliance and enforcement within the largest fisheries in Iraq

n/a = not applicable

Capacity management within the largest fisheries in Iraq

(1) No data but almost certainly decreasing for all exploited stocks n/a = not applicable