IRAN

NATIONAL REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SHRIMP TRAWLING FISHERIES IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

by Ali Asghar Mojahedi, National Coordinator (Fisheries Co. of Iran; Ministry of Jehad; Naderi St. Keshavarz Blvd; PO Box: 14155 - 6353; Teheran; Iran; Fax: 98 21 6941673)

1. INTRODUCTION

Iran with an area of 1 648 195 km and a population of 60 million inhabitants, is located in the Near East Southwest of Asia. Iran has a coastline of 2 700 km in the north and south of the country (Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf and Oman Sea) and the area of inland waters is 1.5 million hectares. The south geographical specification of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman are as follows: The Persian Gulf is situated between 30o and 24o longitude and 48o to 56o latitude. lran surrounds the Persian Gulf in the north, lraq and Kuwait to the west, Saudi Arabia to the southwest, along with Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to the southeast. It is also connected to the strait of Hormoz and Oman sea. The Persian Gulf has an area of 232 850 km² that stretches 930 km from the Arvandrood (Arvand River) up to the Oman Sea. Iran surrounds the Oman Sea in the north, the Indian Ocean in the east, and Oman in the southeast. It extends about 610 km from the coast to the west (including the Strait of Hormoz). The Oman Sea has an area of 903 km². There are 13 fishing zones with 6 fishing centres along the coasts of the four southern provinces.

2. FISHERIES PRODUCTION TREND

The fisheries production trend in the past decade is indicated in the flowing table:

TABLE 1: Fisheries production trend

According to this, fisheries production during the mentioned years shows a ten fold growth. (In 1998 the aquaculture share of the total production was about 8%)

3. SHRIMP FISHERIES

3.1 Catch Composition

Three major fish groups in the total catch of the south are as follows:

Large pelagic species 46%
Demersal species 32%
Small pelagic species 4%
Others 18%

3.2 Shrimp Catch

The Iranian shrimp fishery extends along much of the Iranian coast (with the exception of Sistan province in the southeast) and is divided into three regions or provinces, namely, Bushehr, Hormozgan and Khozestan.

The South's share in total catch is about 60% and 4-5% of this amount consists of shrimp.

The total shrimp catch reported in 1998 was 6 780 tonnes.

The catch volume in over recent years by province is indicated in the following table:

TABLE 2: Shrimp catch by province

3.3 Concerned Shrimp Species

The shrimp species found in the Iranian waters are as the following:

o Penaeus merguiensis (Banana shrimp)
o Penaeus semisulcatus (Tiger shrimp or Green tiger prawn)
o Parapenaeopsis stylifera (Kiddi shrimp)
o Metapenaeus affinis (Jinga shrimp)

The dominant target species in Honnozgan Province is banana shrimp (70%) and 30% for Metapenaeus affinis, Tiger shrimp and Parapenaeopsis stylifera. Tiger shrimp dominate in Bushehr Province (80%) and 20% of shrimp catch in this province is for Metapenaeus affinis. The dominant target species in Khozestan Province are Metapenaeus affinis and Parapenaeopsis stylifera.

3.4 Shrimp Export (amount and value)

The table below presents the amount and value of shrimp exported during past few years:

TABLE 3: Shrimp exports

3.5 Shrimp Culture

Shrimp culture started in recent years. Between 1995 and 1998 it has produced 136, 163, 523 and 870 tonnes respectively. According to the long-term plan for shrimp culture expansions in 2020 a production of 150 000 tonnes of cultured shrimp can be expected.

3.6 Shrimp fishing methods

The shrimp are caught by bottom trawl.

The industrial shrimp trawlers (steel vessels) tow two trawls simultaneously with outriggers.This type of trawl has a four-seam design originating from the Mexico shrimp fishery. The wooden boats (Dhows) tow a single shrimp net and the FRP craft also use single trawl nets. The size and design of the nets is different according to vessel power and region.

3.7 Shrimp Trawling Fleet

As already mentioned three types of fleet are currently shrimp trawling and these can be divided into two sectors:

A: Industrial sector (steel vessels)

There are 39 steel trawlers between 20 to 30 m in length (mean length is 27m); the engine power for these vessels ranges from 250 to 600 kw (350 to 800 HP) and mean power is 750 HP.

B: Artisanal sectors (wooden vessels and small GRP boats)

Approximately 870 wooden vessels with 16 m average length (14 to 20 m), width 4.5 to 6.5 m and with 73 to 160 kw (100 to 220 HP) engine power, an average of 180 HP; the vessel capacity is between 45 and 65 tonnes.

Approximately 1 500 fibreglass (GRP) boats with 7 m mean length and 25 to 45 lip engines make up the third type of shrimp trawlers vessels.

Therefore nowadays more than 2 400 vessels (i.e. about 1/4 of the total number of fishing vessels) are engaged in the catch of shrimp during the fishing season. Shrimp fishing makes more than 15 000 direct employment opportunities as fishers and also many indirect jobs in marketing, processing, distribution, etc.

3.8 Shrimp Fishing Management

In Bushehr and Khozestan provinces the fishing is day and night operation whereas in Hormozgan province it is only a daily activity I.

In each province the season for shrimp trawling lasts approximately six weeks. For the opening of the fishing season, two elements, maturity and body length of shrimp, are studied through field survey. Different fishing grounds may be opened on different dates, if required.

Normally, in Bushehr province the fishing season begins early in mid-august and ends in late September. In Hormozgan, it begins mid-October and extends to late November and finally in Khozestan province it begins in mid/end October and extends to late December. The fishing season is closed on the basis of field studies to determine the percentage of the reserved stock and is closed when trawl surveys indicate that 20% of the shrimp stock rey2859es.

The other management measures include a reduction of the number of new licences for shrimp trawling (this number has been, the last few years, seriously curtailed), introducing and applying some BRDs, control of fishing in the concerned fishing ground, control of discards (only in Hormozgan Province), etc. The number of vessels in the shrimp fishery has been less and less over the past few years, especially in industrial fleets, leaded by Iranian fisheries Companies, while the number of small GRP boats is increasing.

4. CATCH COMBINATION

In shrimp trawling the target species is shrimp, the rest of the catch in this study is referred to as by-catch. About 10-17% of the total catch consists of shrimp. The by-catch in this study is divided into three major categories:

(1) Small fish, under 15 cm in length, are 10-25% of the total catch.

They are all discarded. This group comprises:

- Theraponidae, pony fish, threadfin bream 40-60%
- shad, crab, mullet 20-30%
- sardine, cat fish 15-25%
- croaker,Triacanthidae 5-10%

(2) Juvenile fish: (40-60% of the total catch)

The juvenile fish discarded are usually under 30 cm in length and comprise:

- flounder, indian flat head, cat fish, tongue sole 40-60%
- shark, lizard fish, sting ray, sea bream 30-40%
- silver pomfret, black pomfret, croaker, hair tail, snapper 10-20%

(3) Large Fish: (10-20% of total catch)
Large fish more than 30 cm in length comprise:
- lizard lish, sting ray, flat head, shark, croaker 75%
- hair tail, grouper, southern meager, grunt 15%
- others 10%

5. MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FISHERY AUTHORITIES (DEPUTY FOR FISHING AND FISHERY INDUSTRIES)

6. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN ALL FISHERIES SECTORS

Threat to fishing grounds and sea habitats due to expanded exploitation.

Lack of a defined and organised participation of fishermen, (interested parties) in rebuilding and protection of resources.

Lack in the fisheries management plans of consideration to biological and socio-economic factors.

Lack of regional collaboration in applying regulations.

If these problems persist, the pressure on fishery resources will increase dangerously.

To improve the situation of resource exploitation, the following points are recommended:

7. SHRIMP BY-CATCH REDUCTION IMPORTANCE

The Cancun Declaration (Mexico, 1992) provides that "States" should promote the development and use of selective fishing gear and practices that minimise waste of catch of target species and minimise by-catch of non-target species.

The Iranian shrimp fishery is typical of many tropical shrimp fisheries world wide being characterised by a wide variety of by-catch species. In the Persian Gulf as ïn other tropical areas many different species found in the same fishing ground, at the same time. The result is that due to the diversity of species in shrimp trawling grounds unwanted species is unavoidable.

By-catch Reduction Devices

The participants in the Working Group on shrimp and demersal fishes held in May 1996 (Kuwait) observed that the amount of by-catch resulting from intensive shrimp trawling in the Persian Gulf is becoming a very serious problem for the demersal fish stocks and for the sustainability of fisheries in the region. As overfishing is a problem in every Persian Gulf country with shrimp trawling industry having a serious impact on non-target species, i.e. by-catch, it is recommended that by-catch reduction devices (BRDs) be tested in the region and introduced with the commercial fishery.
Following are some BRDs that were tested so far:

Squaremesh window

This is one of the simplest BRDs. The window allows fish to escape upwards through large square mesh, while the shrimp that do not swim as well as fish are carried away with the currents into the cod-end.

Parallel ropes

Such a bycatch reduction device with parallel ropes consists in a window with parallel ropes extended lengthwise along the trawl (in place of square mesh). It is normally located in the same position as the square mesh window.

Fisheye

A fisheye is a small elliptical opening, steel framed which is arrangedin the codend to allow some fish to escape. It faces forward in the upper part of the codend. It is worth mentioning that fish passing into the codend must turn to swim forward to escape through this device.

Cone

The cone is not a BRD by itself but it is an element designed to increase the efficiency of BRDs to exclude fish from the trawl. It consists simply of two panels of netting attached to a small wire hoop and inserted behind a BRD such as: fisheye, square mesh window; the cone impedes the passage of fish into the codend and stimulates them to swim forward and through the escape openings.

Rigid Grid

The NAFTED was originally used by the Australian Maritime College to exclude large animals such as shark, stingrays and turtles (however some experience shows that in general small fish are also excluded). The NAFTED BRD features a grid, with a bar spacing appropriate to local conditions, secured to the trawl at 45 degrees. A panel of netting guides all animals to the bottom of the codend and prevents shrimp loss through the escape opening in the top of the codend. Large animals are physically guided through the escape opening while shrimp and other small animals pass through the bars and into the cod-end.

8. A SEVERAL-YEAR PROGRAMME CONCERNING SHRIMP FISHERIES

Over a on-and-half year period a programme aiming to the reduction of the bycatch, fish juveniles in particular, has been designed on the basis of field survey and experts and stakeholders consultation.

The overall objectives are:

The practical purpose of the project includes:

For this purpose, the proposed activities include, among others:

It is observed that for such a programme concerning a shared resource among several countries of the Gulf, a regional collaboration is indispensable. A strong cooperation between the countries adjacent to the Persian Gulf is necessary to better regulate the shrimp fishery.

9. CONCLUSION

At this stage and concerning the impact of the shrimp fisheries and resources and environment, it is worth reminding a number of general agreed-on observation.

Recognizing that many aquatic resources are overfished and that the fishing capacity presently available jeopardizes their conservation and rational use, technological changes aimed solely at further increasing fishing capacity would not generally be seen as desirable.

Different capture technologies will have different effects on the ecosystem, the social structure of fishing communities, the safety of fishery workers and the ease, effectiveness and efficiency of management of the fishery.

A precautionary approach should be adopted for the development of new technologies or the transfer of existing technologies to other fisheries to avoid unplanned abrupt changes in fishing pressure or social pressures.

Each capture technology has advantages and disadvantages that should be balanced in a precautionary approach, and it may be better to have a mixed technology. When a new fishery technology is introduced, it should be carefully evaluated to assess its potential direct and indirect effects. If a mixed fishery technology representing "best current practice" in an area can be identified, precautionary management would encourage its adoption while it would discourage damaging ones. Responsible fishery technology achieves the specific fishery management objectives with minimum damaging side effects.

A precautionary approach would provide for a process of initial and on-going review of the effects of the fishery technology introduced or evolving in local practice. However the extent to which a precautionary approach can be applied to the management of technological changes depends on the existing level of management. In some cases, education of fishermen and consumers towards responsible practices may be the only possible approach.

The benefits of technological improvements need adequate extension work and education to encourage their adoption.

LOGICAL FRAME WORK