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Country review: Egypt (Red Sea coast)


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

INTRODUCTION

The Northern Red Sea is an important sea area both for fishing and for its unique and often spectacular marine environment. Coral reef communities often form extensive and productive reef flats which create protected habitat for many juvenile species as well as lagoons which also serve this purpose. Corals also create a protected environment for the development of coastal vegetation such as seagrasses (such as Thalassodendron ciliatum which is found in this zone and the Gulf of Aqaba but rarely elsewhere in the Red Sea) and salt marshes. Typical features of the western coast of the Red Sea are coastal lagoons and sheltered bays, or ‘mersas’, which form natural harbours and fish landing places. Several of these lagoons are fringed by mangrove (Khalil 1994). The Egyptian, as well as the Sudanese coasts are characterized by the most diverse reefs of the Red Sea. Most of the coast is bordered by fringing reefs one to three kilometres wide which are separated by deep channels from a barrier reef of 1-14 km width. The outer barrier drops steeply to several hundred meters depth.

Egypt shares its Red Sea coast with a number of other countries, and therefore many of the exploited fish stocks (particularly the large and small pelagic species) in Egypt are shared with neighboring countries. In 2002, Egypt’s reported landings represented about 25 percent of total Red Sea fish landings[238] although these figures need to be approached cautiously because significant landings into ports in the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea apparently originate from Egyptian vessels fishing in foreign waters in more southerly areas of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden[239].

Marine fisheries are of lesser importance to Egypt than its major freshwater fisheries and aquaculture industries, and represent only about 17 percent of total fish production in Egypt. However, of the marine fisheries, approximately 55 percent of the total marine fish catch comes from the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez[240], with the remainder coming from the Mediterranean coast. Landings from the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez have increased substantially over the past 20 years, rising from 14 700 tonnes in 1980 to 72 900 tonnes in 2002, although the proportion of high value reef species (such as the emperors) have fallen, possibly as a result of habitat degradation or overexploitation[241]. This increase in overall landings has been a result of both increased fishing effort and also from the landing into Egyptian ports of fish taken elsewhere in the Red Sea. Both industrial scale and artisanal vessels contribute to landings[242] although the distinction between the types of vessels is not always clear. Large purse seine vessels operate in the Gulf of Suez while smaller vessels (including purse seines, handline and gillnetters) operate throughout the area. Upgrading[243] of vessels from ‘artisanal’ to small ‘industrial’ vessels as well as an overall increase in the number of vessels has contributed to the increasing landings since 1980.

There are four fisheries centres along the Suez Gulf, six along the Red Sea Coast and three along the Gulf of Aqaba. There are only two developed fishing ports (Suez and Hurghada). The fishing fleet in 2001 was composed of 78 trawlers and 83 purse seiners in the Suez Gulf, and 711 boats using longline and hooks along the whole fishing ground, in addition to about 128 trawlers working outside Egyptian territorial waters, around the Gulf of Aden.

The catch in the Gulf of Suez constitutes 44 percent of the total landing of Egypt’s Red Sea fisheries, while the Red Sea proper contributes 34 percent and 21 percent comes from outside Egyptian territorial waters. Catches from the Gulf of Aqaba comprise less than one percent of the total landings[244]. Major pelagic stocks include horse mackerel, round herring, Indian mackerel and sardines. Demersal species supporting trawl fisheries include shrimps, golden snapper, striped snapper, lizardfish, red mullet and thread-fin bream (Barrania, 1997) while reef fish, predominately the high value groupers (Serranidae) and emperors (Lethrinidae) are the most important species for the artisanal fishery. There is a marked differentiation in catches down the coast which is due primarily to different habitats, but also reflects different gear usage and market demands.

In Egypt, most fishermen originate from the Nile Delta, Fayum and other Upper Egypt provinces. Fishery resources in the Red Sea area are targeted by three groups: (i) Sedentary Bedouin fishermen, belonging to the Besharin and Ababda tribes. These are small groups of seven to ten fishermen, particularly in Foul Bay, who use small wooden boats with veranda nets, cast nets and hook and line. Production is consumed locally, with some salted or sun-dried. Most lack boats or vehicles and are therefore restrained in terms of fishing effort and market distribution; (ii) Migratory fishermen, being fishermen from Hurghada, Safaga and El-Qusseiyr who follow fishing patterns down the coast, particularly the migratory grey and red mullet, during October to February. They usually establish seasonal fishing camps and possess motorized boats supported by vehicles. It is understood that increasing numbers of professional fishermen from the Mediterranean coast are also participating in the Red Sea fishery; and (iii) the semi-industrial fleet of purse-seiners and trawlers from the north who target sardine and demersal fish respectively and are predominately based in Suez[245]. Fisheries provide an important income-earning opportunity for the first two groups (i.e. the sedentary Bedouin and the seasonal migratory fishermen) and shore access is essential to both groups. This is particularly the case for trammel net fishermen, who usually lack boats and need to walk across the shoreline and reef flat in order to set the net. Despite foreshore planning restrictions, there is already some conflict between tourism development and traditional fishing interests.

Fisheries legislation in Egypt is based on a 1983 Decree[246] which provides the administrative basis of fisheries management. However, the legislation is generally inadequate in providing a basis for effective management for fisheries in Egypt. In addition, enforcement of the few laws is generally weak and, as a result, fisheries are essentially unregulated. This has lead to large increases in fishing capacity as well as to concerns regarding overexploitation of a number of species, including, in recent years, a number of reef species and sea cucumber stocks[247]. Effective management is also hampered by the general lack of adequate assessments of major commercial fish stocks and by the complexities inherent in the shared nature of many of these stocks.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The national authority with responsibility for fisheries management in Egypt is the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD). The GAFRD is also responsible for statistics collection and undertakes some research, although most fisheries research in Egypt is carried out by the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF), which has some 1 500 staff, of which 400 are researcher and research assistants. Its research covers both living resources (fish biology, stock monitoring and assessment, fish technology, aquaculture, fishery statistics and economics, and pollution monitoring and control) and limnology and physical oceanography. It has a number of stations in Egypt and carries out ecological and fisheries surveys along the Mediterranean and Red Sea Coasts as well as inland fisheries research. It is undertaking a programme of resource evaluation, in particular an evaluation of the pelagic stocks, implemented using echo-sounder techniques. Gear research is also being undertaken for catching pelagic species with mid-water trawls.

Within the primary fisheries legislation[248], there is no policy objectives established for the management of marine fisheries in Egypt and the Act is primarily an administrative tool. However, the Act does specify (under Article 65) the areas in which the Minister for Agriculture (or the President) can make decrees relating to fisheries. These specific areas are broad and include, among others:

As well as the lack of specific policy objectives within the Fisheries Act, there is also no stated policy framework for marine fisheries by the GAFRD or the Ministry of Agriculture[249] and, therefore, marine fisheries policy needs to be inferred from actions taken (or not taken) by the GAFRD. Although there have been several Decrees and Resolutions issued since 1983 on issues relating to port development, Fishermen’s Cooperatives and other administrative matters, the only Decrees and Resolutions that have been issued that relate to the management of fisheries have been (a) prohibiting trawlers from operating in both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean within the same year[250], (b) placing a freeze on the issue of additional trawl licenses[251] and (c) a closed season for trawling from 1 June to 30 September each year[252]. Therefore, although the power exists within the national legislation to address fisheries management issues, these powers have not been used to any great extent. As a result, the marine fisheries of Egypt are essentially unregulated[253] and the implicit policy framework has been one of development rather than restriction. Soft loans and other Government support are made available to fishermen to facilitate this development focus.

Funding for the GAFRD to undertake its responsibilities comes from annual funding allocations from the Government. Revenues from fishing activities come principally from fishing license fees although there is no formal link between the annual revenues received from these sources and the annual funding of the GAFRD.

International fisheries issues are also the responsibility of the GAFRD. Egypt participates in the activities of the Convention for the Protection of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA) as well as having formal cooperation agreements in fisheries with Kuwait, Greece, Ukraine and Jordan (FAOLex, 2004). Egypt ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1983 and the UN Fish Stocks Agreement in 1995.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The basic fisheries law of Egypt is contained within Act Number 124 of 1983 on Fishing, Aquatic Life and the Regulation for Fish Farms. This Act establishes the GAFRD as the organization responsible for administering the Act and establishes an administrative framework for fisheries management. However, as noted above, it does not provide an effective management framework for marine fisheries regulation.

Various Decrees and Resolutions have been issued since 1983 related to aspects of fisheries administration but only three (see above) have related to fisheries management issues.

The GAFRD has a well established public awareness campaign to communicate with individual fishermen and, most importantly, with the Fishermen’s Cooperatives. In 1994, a Resolution was issued (Resolution 232 of 1994) which formally identified Sheikhs (i.e. local community leaders) as the connecting link between the GAFRD and the Co-operatives and established guidelines for their powers in collecting license fees and fines and passing on fishermen’s concerns to the GAFRD.

Although the basic fisheries legislation is relatively old, it has not yet been reviewed or revised.

STATUS OF THE FISHERIES

Egyptian marine fish landings from the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez have increased substantially over the past two decades, reaching 75 500 tonnes in 2001, compared with just 14 700 tonnes in 1980. However, a significant part of these landings (estimated at about 21 percent or 15 900 tonnes) come from Egyptian vessels operating in the territorial waters of other countries, most significantly in Yemen, Eritrea and Sudan. These increases have come from significant increases in fishing fleet capacity, including additional vessels as well as the upgrading of existing vessels. Catches from Egyptian waters include about 35 fish species groups, dominated by mackerel (Scomberomorus spp., 22 percent), lizard fish (Saurida undosquamis, 11 percent), snapper and emperors (Lutjanus spp. and Lethrinidae, eight percent), threadfin bream (Nemipterus spp., seven percent), sardine (Sardinella spp., six percent), grouper (Epinephelus spp., five percent) and grey mullet (Mugil spp., five percent). In recent years, landings of sea cucumber have become economically important, with landings rising dramatically from zero in 1999 to 2 300 tonnes in 2002.

Assessment of the status of marine fish stocks in Egypt is complicated both by the lack of comprehensive stock assessments of commercially important species and also by the shared nature of many of the stocks, making national assessments of limited use in framing effective management plans. In addition, there is no regional fisheries commission or other body that can take the lead in framing regional management actions based on regional assessments of the major stocks. In a review of the status of marine fisheries in the region in 2000, the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (Hariri et al., 2000) listed the following as reasons for the lack of reliable stock assessment in the region generally, including Egypt:

Despite these difficulties, Egypt has undertaken some assessment studies[254], most of which have concluded that most fish stocks are fully or overexploited. A major UNDP/FAO project on Development of Fisheries in the general areas of the Red Sea (including Egypt) and Gulf of Aden was concluded in 1988 and this provided comprehensive data on a regional basis for many of the pelagic and demersal resources. This project, although regional in focus, provides the only data for many of the pelagic stocks, in particular, of Egypt’s Red Sea coast. Despite the importance of shark and miscellaneous large pelagic species such as kingfish (Spanish mackerel), cobia and barracuda, no research has been undertaken on these stocks in either Egypt or the region in general.

Surveys for demersal stock assessment research were undertaken by the UNDP/ FAO Regional Project mentioned above, over the period 1979-1983, the conclusions of which are summarized in Sanders and Morgan (1989). Between 1989-1995 FAO undertook a general survey of fisheries in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez from Hurghada to Ras Banas and Foul Bay (Project: RAB/83/023/02) while the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF) undertook a fisheries survey in the Gulf of Suez. Catch samples were taken during 1989-1990 and 1993-1994 from trawl, purse-seine and handline fisheries and MSY estimates calculated. The major conclusion was that all Gulf of Suez fisheries are overfished and recommendations were presented to substantially reduce fishing effort (Azab, El Hakim and Younis, 1998). Coral reef fish stocks in the Gulf of Suez Gulf were also found to be significantly overexploited and it was recommended to reduce the number of fishing boats by 41 percent (Mehanna, 1999). The giant clam stock of the Red Sea was considered to be underexploited but as fishing effort is increasing it was feared that the fishery could easily collapse (Kilada and El Ganainy, 1999).

TABLE 1
Characteristics of the major fisheries of Egypt (Red Sea coast)

Category
of Fishery

Fishery

Volume
(Est. in
tonnes)1

Value2
US$

% of Total
Volume
Caught

% of Total
Value
Caught

Covered by a
Management
Plan? (Yes/No)

# of
Participants
(Est.)

# of
Vessels
(Est.)3

Industrial

Purse seine

39 300

$59m

71.8%

70.2%

No

850

83

Demersal trawl

15 410

$25m

28.2%

29.8%

No

800

78

Artisanal

Red Sea artisanal fishery

18 200

$39m

100%

100%

No

9000

711

(1) Volume includes an unknown quantity (estimated at 21% of total landings) that originates from outside of Egypt’s territorial waters.

(2) Estimated Value in 2002 U.S. Dollars.

(3) Does not include vessels operating out of Egypt’s territorial waters. Some of these vessels may have taken catches within Egypt’s territorial waters. In 2001, 128 trawlers apparently operated, for at least part of the year, outside of Egypt’s territorial waters.

It is understood that there is virtually no recent detailed information on the status of the principal commercial stocks in the Egyptian Red Sea.

A summary of the characteristics of the major industrial and artisanal fisheries in the Red Sea/Gulf of Suez areas of Egypt in 2002 is given in Table 1. There are only small recreational fisheries (often associated with resorts and marinas) and no data are available.

MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY

The fisheries of Egypt are essentially unregulated although it is recognized[255] that most stocks are overexploited and that fishing capacity is excessive. Specific management regulations are limited to (a) prohibiting trawlers from operating in both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean within the same year, (b) a freeze on the issue of additional demersal trawl licenses[256] and (c) a closed season for demersal trawling from 1 June to 30 September each year. These management measures apply to industrial trawl fisheries only and the artisanal fishery is not regulated. Although mesh sizes and size limits are included in the Regulations to the Fisheries Decree of 1983, these are more orientated to inland fisheries. Where they exist, minimum mesh sizes for marine fisheries are often set at very small sizes and are widely ignored.

All vessels are required to be licensed annually with licenses being issued for specific fishing gear and for specific areas. Fishermen are required to possess a fishermen’s ‘card’ to enable them to fish commercially.

In the industrial fishery, management measures are enforced by the coast guard, navy and national police while local Fishermen’s Cooperatives are active in working with the GAFRD in ensuring compliance with the few management measures for artisanal fishery.

Stakeholder participation in the development of fisheries policy and management measures and communication with fishermen is achieved through an effective public awareness function of GAFRD, who work closely with local Fishermen’s Cooperatives.

COSTS AND REVENUES OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

GAFRD receives an annual budget from the Government for its activities each year with this budget having remained approximately unchanged over the past five years.

Revenues from fisheries licensing and fines constitute the only significant source of fisheries-related income to the Government although, because license fees are not large, the contribution to overall costs of managing marine fisheries is small. There is no formal link between the revenues received by the Government from fisheries licensing and the budget for the GAFRD.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GLOBAL FISHERIES MANDATES AND INITIATIVES

Egypt ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1983 and the UN Fish Stocks Agreement in 1995. It has not yet ratified the UN Compliance Agreement.

The implementation of the provisions of International Plans of Action related to managing fishing capacity, IUU fishing, shark management and seabird bycatch 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

There is no regional fisheries body covering the northern Red Sea area and therefore Egypt does not participate in regional management of fisheries. However, the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA), of which Egypt is a member, becomes involved in fisheries issues as they relate to broader marine environmental protection issues. National legislation in Egypt does not require that regional fisheries issues are considered in making management decisions and in preparing management plans for highly migratory and straddling stocks.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Marine fisheries production in the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez has expanded significantly over the past two decades, reaching around 72 900 tonnes by 2002, from just 14 800 tonnes in 1980. This expansion has occurred as a result of an essentially unregulated marine fisheries sector, where new vessels have entered the fishery, existing vessels have been upgraded[257] and, as a consequence, fishing capacity has expanded dramatically. Inevitably, this expansion has resulted in overexploitation of many commercial fish stocks and, in the late 1990s, it was concluded that all demersal and reef fisheries in the Gulf of Suez were being fished beyond their Maximum Sustainable Yields (see above). No recent assessments of the stocks of small or large pelagic resources are available, although these stocks are most likely shared with neighbouring countries, making comprehensive assessments a regional issue. Much of the expansion in landings has come from purse seining and demersal trawling activities, and has been at the expense of the traditional handline and net fisheries for reef fishes such as grouper, jacks and snappers.

While managing and reducing fishing capacity is generally recognized as a priority for the sustainable management of marine fisheries in Egypt, the ability to do this is hampered by a number of factors. Fisheries policy is essentially development-focused and most management tools are used to promote the further expansion of fishing activities, rather than imposing limits on the growth of the sector. In addition, the basic fisheries legislation is more than 20 years old and does not provide the legislative framework for sustainable management of fisheries, for example through the principles of Ecological Sustainable Development (ESD). When these factors are combined with the general lack of knowledge of the status of the more important commercial marine fish stocks, effective management of the marine fisheries sector is extremely difficult.

Many of the stocks that Egypt’s marine fishing industry exploits are undoubtedly shared with neighbouring countries and therefore, effective management of these stocks would require a regional approach rather than a national one. However, no regional fisheries body exists to provide the vehicle for such regional management although PERSGA has attempted to address fisheries issues within the broader context of regional marine environmental protection. Without such a regional fisheries body, and the information, policy framework, legal framework and political will to implement regional fisheries agreements at the national level, Egypt will continue to face significant issues with the sustainability of its marine fish stocks.

REFERENCES

Azab, A.M., El Hakim, N.F.A. & Younis, T.M. 1998. Studies on the fisheries of the Suez Gulf, Red Sea, Egypt. Egypt. J. Aquat. Biol. & Fish., 2(4): 505-525.

Barrania, A. 1997. Strategic Action Plan for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. National Fisheries Report: Egypt.

FAOLex. 2004. FAOLex Legal Database. http://faolex.fao.org/faolex/index.htm.

Hariri, K., P. Nichols, F. Krupp, S. Mishrigi, A. Barrania, A. Farah Ali and S. Kedidi (2000). Status of the Living Marine Resources in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Region and their Management. Strategic Action Programme for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA), mimeo, 151pp.

Khalil, A.S.M. 1994. Fishes in the Mangrove Ecosystem of Egypt and the Suakin Area, Sudanese Red Sea: Population Ecology, Community Structure and Species Diversity. MSc thesis. University of Khartoum. 126pp.

Kilada, R. & El Ganainy, A. 1999. Stock assessment of the giant clam (Tridacna maxima) in the Egyptian Red Sea. Egypt. J. Aquat. Biol. & Fish., 3(4): 145-156.

Mehanna, S.F. 1999. An assessment and management of the coral reef fish stocks in the Gulf of Suez. Egypt. J. Aquat. Biol. & Fish., 3(2): 103-114.

Sanders, A.P.L. and Morgan, G.R. 1989. Review of the fisheries resources of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 304. Rome, FAO.

APPENDIX TABLES

Current management of marine capture fisheries in Egypt

Level of
management

% Fisheries
Managed

% with Fisheries
Management
Plan

% with Published
Regulations*

Trends in the number of Managed Fisheries
over ten yrs. (increasing/decreasing/unchanged)

National

n.a.

0%

0%

Unchanged

Regional

100%

0%

0%

Unchanged

Local

n.a.

0%

0%

Unchanged

Use of fishery management tools within the three largest fisheries in Egypt

Category of
Fishery

Fishery

Restrictions

License /
Limited
Entry

Catch
Restrictions

Rights-based
Regulations

Taxes /
Royalties

Performance
Standards

Spatial

Temporal

Gear

Size

Industrial

Purse seine

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

Demersal trawl

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

Artisanal

Red Sea artisanal fishery

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

Recreational

Only small recreational fisheries

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

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

Category of
Fishery

Fishery

Do Management Funding Outlays Cover

Are Management Funding Sources From

R&D

Monitoring &
Enforcement

Daily
Management

License fees in
fishery

License fees from
other fisheries1

Resource
rents

Industrial

Purse seine

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Demersal trawl

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Artisanal

Red Sea artisanal fishery

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Recreational

Only small recreational fisheries

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

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

Compliance and enforcement within the three largest fisheries in Egypt

Category of
Fishery

Fishery

VMS

On-board
observers

Random dockside
inspections

Routine inspections
at landing sites

At-sea boarding
and inspections

Other

Industrial

Purse seine

No

No

No

Yes

Yes


Demersal trawl

No

No

No

Yes

Yes


Artisanal

Red Sea artisanal fishery

No

No

No

Yes

Yes


Recreational

Only small recreational fisheries

No

No

No

No

No


Capacity management within the three largest fisheries in Egypt

Category of
Fishery

Fishery

Does overfishing
exist?

Is fleet capacity
measured?

Is CPUE increasing,
constant or
decreasing?1

Have capacity
reduction
programmes been
used?

If used, please specify
objectives of capacity
reduction programme

Industrial

Purse seine

Yes

No

Decreasing

No


Demersal trawl

Yes

No

Decreasing

No


Artisanal

Red Sea artisanal fishery

Yes

No

Decreasing

No


Recreational

Only small recreational fisheries

Yes

No

Decreasing

No


(1) No data but almost certainly decreasing for all explouted stocks


[238] The Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA), reporting amalgamated landings data from FAO.
[239] Both Yemen and Eritrea have reported Egyptian industrial fishing vessels fishing in their territorial waters (often illegally) and it is also likely that these vessels fish in Sudanese waters.
[240] In 2001, total Egyptian landings from the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez amounted to around 75 500 tonnes. There has been a steady increase in these landings over a long period, rising from 14 700 tonnes in 1980 to 40 000 tonnes in 1990 to the current level.
[241] PERSGA, 2000.
[242] All vessels are licensed and are required to fish, and be registered, in an area designated on their license.
[243] Upgrading of vessels has also included moving away from fishing methods, such as handlining, that targets reef species to methods such as purse seining that target small and large pelagic species.
[244] These data are reported in the fisheries country profile prepared by FAO in October 2003. However, statistics collected by the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD) do not appear to differentiate between the origins of landings.
[245] In 2000, 88 percent of Egypt’s industrial Red Sea and Gulf of Suez landings were made at Ataka Port in Suez according to data from PERSGA.
[246] Decree 124/83 of 1983 on management and organization of the fisheries resources of Egypt.
[247] In 1992, the GAFRD issued a Resolution (Resolution 342 of 1992) which stated that no more licenses for trawl fishing would be issued in either the Red Sea or the Mediterranean from 1st January 1994. However, it is understood that this Resolution has not been implemented effectively and additional licenses have, indeed, been issued.
[248] Act on fishing, aquatic life and the regulation for fish farms (Act No. 124), 1983.
[249] However, the Ministry of Agriculture has included fisheries in its overall goal of ‘self-sufficiency’ in many agricultural products by 2012. This would imply total fisheries production (including aquaculture and fresh water fisheries as well as marine fisheries) of around 1 362 000 by that time, compared with the 2001 production from all sources of 771 515 tonnes. While the development of all sectors is encouraged by the provisions of soft loans and the encouragement and support of Fishermen’s Co-operatives, there is no defined development plan for the marine fisheries sector and no definitive policy as to how, and to what extent, marine fisheries will contribute to this overall production goal.
[250] Resolutions 376 of 2000 and 339 of 1999.
[251] Resolution 342 of 1992 which stated that no more licenses for trawl fishing would be issued in either the Red Sea or the Mediterranean from 1st January 1994. However, it is understood that this Resolution has not been implemented effectively and additional licenses have, indeed, been issued
[252] This closed season appears to have been made by administrative decision rather than Decree or Resolution.
[253] No management plans exist for any marine fishery in Egypt.
[254] Most of the studies undertaken since the 1970s have been funded by external donors and have most often involved FAO technical assistance.
[255] Based on the results of surveys and stock assessment research in the late 1990s that showed most demersal and reef stocks were overexploited and which recommended reductions in fishing capacity, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the major pelagic fish stocks.
[256] Resolution 342 of 1992 which stated that no more licenses for trawl fishing would be issued in either the Red Sea or the Mediterranean from 1st January 1994. However, it is understood that this Resolution has not been implemented effectively and additional licenses have, indeed, been issued.
[257] Upgrading of vessels and purchase of new vessels is often assisted by the provision of Government-subsidized loans.

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