The Abu Dhabi Environment Agency (EAD) has identified seven challenges that put pressure on the country's fisheries resources and threaten their sustainability, including the increasing demand for fish due to rapid population growth, the deterioration of key habitats, the low quality of sea water due to coastal development, desalination activities, pollution and climate change. Loss of mangroves and seagrass due to coastal development, which severely affects fishery resources due to loss of nursery areas, illegal fishing, use of illegal fishing gear, hunting of prohibited species or exceeding limits on fish lengths. Z fishing in large quantities by the recreational fishing sector.
The Commission, in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, has issued the National Framework for the Sustainability of Fisheries in the State (2019-2030), which is a national plan for the recovery and renewal of fish stocks in the country, and the best methods and methods to ensure the sustainability of fisheries at the national and local level, within the context Current climate change.
In the national context, these measures include the implementation of critical management measures that will reduce the pressure on fisheries in the commercial and recreational sectors, as well as enhancing fish stocks through the development of effective aquaculture research and studies, and the rehabilitation of fisheries habitats through reef establishment. Synthetic.
The Strategic Action Plan has been developed within the national framework to achieve sustainable fisheries in response to the findings of the Fisheries Resources Assessment Survey and the visions of 300 fishing boat owners, fishermen and experienced fishers across the country, which revealed the vulnerability of the UAE's fisheries resources. Excessively excessive sustainability.
She added that socio-economic studies carried out at the state level revealed that one of the main pressures on fisheries is increasing the capacity of the commercial and recreational fishing sectors, pointing out that the most fish species caught from benthic fish such as grouper, capillary and brushes are considered to be overexploited. About five times the sustainability threshold, while surface fish such as kingfish are overexploited up to three times the sustainability threshold.
She pointed out that the results of the comprehensive survey to assess the resources of fisheries in the UAE waters showed that the bottom fisheries are subjected to overexploitation, where the fish grouper and poetic and brushes to about 10% of the average size of fish stocks capable of reproduction, where the survey was conducted on two geographical areas (water The Arabian Gulf survey took 250 days at sea, included more than 2,500 study stations, and collected information on more than 200 species of fish, sharks and rai.
The results of the study indicate that benthic fishery resources are overexploited as a result of severe fishing pressure and require decisive recovery measures.
The survey confirmed that some major species such as grouper, capillary and brushes were subjected to overfishing, where the stock of brush fish declined to 7% of the volume of the stock growth, while the size of the stock of grouper and poetic fish grow to 12%, while the sustainable level of these two species between 30% And 40%, while their current status indicates that they are overexploited.
Overexploitation of fisheries
The results of three independent studies conducted over 16 years in Abu Dhabi waters showed that 12 species of fish were caught at rates that exceed levels of sustainability.
The 12 overexploited species account for about 73 percent of commercial fishing and 85 percent of fisheries revenues, including grouper, poetic, brushes, kanad, tail, zeridi, jish umm al-hal, qabit, al-safi al-arabi, kufr, shinino, and coral.
The Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi (EAD), in recognition of these challenges and the environmental status of the fisheries and their social importance to the UAE heritage, has launched, in cooperation with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the “Sustainable Fisheries Program” which was implemented during the period 2016 to 2018 and includes a comprehensive review of the sector. Local fisheries, providing decision-makers with up-to-date information on the status of fisheries and laying the groundwork for a plan to ensure the sustainability of fisheries by 2030.
Administrative measures
The National Framework for the Sustainability of Fisheries in the UAE (2019-2030) reflects the plan developed to ensure the restoration of fish stocks when appropriate management measures are implemented, which is consistent with global recovery rates of up to 12 years.
12
A species of fish that is overexploited.