Dubai: Fish stocks of the UAE are 'stable' according to a ministerial fisheries official.
However a proposal to enforce a minimum size for marketing hamour at supermarket level is under review.
Fishermen will not be fined for catching undersized hamour, however shops and markets will - if found to be stocking hamour smaller than 45 to 50 centimetres explained Abdul Razzaq Anwahi, fisheries advisor at the Ministry of Environment and Water, after the closing deliberations of the Regional Commission of Fisheries (RECOFI) held in Dubai on Thursday.
According to Anwahi fish stocks are stable but scientific studies indicate action should be taken to better preserve fisheries.
"We will not touch the fishing practice, but we will stop the marketing of undersized fish.
"There will be enforcement and inspections of fish markets and supermarkets - which falls under each emirate's municipality," said Anwahi.
"Fishermen will avoid bringing in undersized hamour if it is not being bought and stays on the stand all day," he added.
Awareness began 7 years ago amongst the fishing community not to catch undersized hammour that have not yet reached maturity and are unlikely to have spawned, he said. "We are now fine-tuning this law and limiting the size. There was no enforcement before."
Anwahi added that this proposal will be discussed with relevant nationwide authorities. He said no shortage of fish is likely to be felt in the UAE. "Fishermen will be bringing less small fish - giving them the opportunity to grow – and catching bigger fish in due time," he said.
According to Infosamak, a Morrocco-based independent information centre on fish and fish products in the Arab World, the UAE has an annual fish consumption of 27 kilos per person – an amount more than twice the global average, pegged at 13.6 kilos per person in 2006 by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation.
Hammour fish stocks have been reportedly dwindling since at least 2004 however. According to a study conducted by the MOEW a few years ago, a fairly large quantity of small sized hammour is caught and landed by local fishermen.
The study conducted in Sharjah found that up to 30 percent of the fish measured were undersized. Hammour usually grow faster during their early years up to the age of six, after which growth is slower. "There is an urgent need to ban the fishing of under sized hammour to protect the stock and allow the fish to grow above the minimum size at maturity so as to improve the spawning stock of hammour", the study stated at the time.
