Country review: Yemen

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

INTRODUCTION

The Republic of Yemen occupies a key strategic position on the south west of the Arabian Peninsula with extensive coasts bordering both the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in addition to important sea areas around Socotra Island and its Archipelago. The length of its coastline is approximately 2 500 km in total with the majority of the population being involved in rural enterprises, particularly in the coastal areas.

Fishing is a major rural enterprise in Yemen with the country depending on the fisheries sector for around three percent of its GPD with some 500 000 people (or approximately 2.9 percent of the population) being directly or indirectly dependent on the fishing industry for their livelihood in 2003. Of this number, there were an estimated 50 000 people directly involved in catching fish. The country possesses significant fish stocks, among them valuable species such as lobster, shrimp and cuttlefish. Prior to unification, the former Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen (i.e. South Yemen) pursued a policy of encouraging the development of industrial fisheries, often at the expense of the development of the small-scale fisheries sector. By contrast, the Yemen Arab Republic (i.e. North Yemen), with a coast to the Red Sea, pursued a successful policy of small-scale fisheries sector development.

After unification in 1990, a coherent fisheries policy for the country as a whole was lacking and, in addition, supporting institutional infrastructure to allow the development of such a policy (e.g. skilled staff, research facilities, accurate statistics etc.) became severely degraded. As an example, up to 1990, reliable and routine catch and fishing effort data were collected from the industrial fishing fleet as well as, to a lesser extent, from the small-scale artisanal fishery. However, for about a decade after 1991, no dependable fish landings statistics were collected and no reliable resource surveys or stock assessments were undertaken.

However, in recent years, Yemen has begun to address these issues, with assistance from international donors and technical experts from the World Bank, FAO, DANIDA and others. In addition, bilateral technical co-operation with a number of countries (e.g. China, Russia, Japan etc.) has enabled institutional infrastructure to be rebuilt, technical training to be undertaken, strategic fisheries policy to be developed and implemented, export markets to be developed and, generally, the management of the sector improved substantially. The result has been recent substantial increases in both landings and exports with landings reaching an all-time record of around 228 000 t in 2003^[367]. Most of this increase has come from the small-scale artisanal fishery which has been targeted by the Government for assistance at the expense of large-scale industrial fishing.

However, many problems remain to be addressed. There remain significant concerns about the apparent over-exploitation of some of the most valuable fisheries in Yemen, particularly the rock lobster and shrimp stocks and some demersal fish species. Illegal fishing by industrial vessels, although reduced, is still a major compliance issue and practices such as finning of sharks are common. The Ministry of Fish Wealth’s policy framework, structure and supporting infrastructure is still in the development stages. However, with the major advances that have already been made by the Government of Yemen in moving towards a clear and coherent fisheries development policy, there is confidence that these outstanding issues will be addressed.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The national authority with responsibility for fisheries management in Yemen is the Ministry of Fish Wealth, which is based in Sana’a and also has regional offices in Aden, Hodeidah and Mukalla. The Ministry also includes ancillary organizations such as the Marine Sciences and Resources Research Centre (MSRRC) in Aden and oversees three public corporations of the National Corporation for Services and Fish Marketing (NCSFM), the Coastal Fisheries Corporation (CFC) and the Yemen Fisheries Corporation (YFC). Of these the NCSFM is the largest and operates about 12 large and smaller cold storage facilities, two tuna canning plants and is also responsible for management of most fisheries harbor facilities in Yemen.

The Ministry has a large staff of over 3 000, most of who are with the NCSFM. The structure of the Ministry, and its functions of being involved in private sector activities such as fish marketing, are essentially a legacy of the political arrangements prior to unification and may not be appropriate for the development of a modern and efficient fisheries sector. However, the Ministry is currently addressing these issues and, in particular, the Government has taken the decision in principle to limit the Ministry’s activities in the three public corporations^[368]. Privatization of these (and other Government corporations outside the fisheries sector) is being addressed through the World Bank supported National Privatization Project.

The Ministry of Fish Wealth co-operates with other agencies involved in marine issues. In particular, there are three main agencies that have policy input into fisheries and marine management. These are:

• The Environmental Protection Council (EPC), which has a coordinating role for environmental initiatives and has the responsibility for the leadership role in the design of a national marine protected areas systems. The council’s base is located in Sana'a with two small branches in Aden and Mukalla. Both branches have limited technical and managerial capacity to deal with marine and coastal zone issues.

• The Public Corporation for Maritime Affairs, which is responsible for maritime pollution and response. The Corporation plays an important role in developing a legislative framework to protect the marine environment and ensuring the integration of oil spill contingency plans into oil spill surveillance, monitoring and enforcement.

• The Regional Convention for Conservation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA), which operates as an organizational unit of the Arab League Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ALESCO). PERSGA assists in the co-ordination of regional UNDP environmental programmes, especially under the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), and a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for protection of the region's marine environment.

As part of these broader policy issues, the Yemeni Government, through the Ministry of Fish Wealth has embarked on a policy direction of reducing industrial fishing (including illegal industrial fishing) and developing the small-scale fisheries sector. As a result of this policy, the contribution of the industrial sector to total landings has decreased over recent years, reaching a low of 13.7 percent in 2003^[369], compared with around 50 percent (including substantial illegal catches) in the early to mid-1990s^[370].

The current fisheries sector strategy for Yemen rests on three pillars^[371]: i) Fisheries management based on strengthened fisheries statistics, regular fish stock assessment and an expansion of applied fisheries research, ii) gradual withdrawal of the state from its involvement in commercial activities and future focus on provision of an enabling environment through an improved regulatory framework, enforcement of rules and regulations by way of a more effective monitoring, control and surveillance as well as quality control, iii) improvement of coastal infrastructure including the provision of the fishing communities not only with access infrastructure and protected landing sites but also with basic services such as power, water, health and education.

The Ministry of Fish Wealth has, however, encountered difficulties in the past in implementing management policy measures because of the politisation of policy making. In 1999, the World Bank noted^[372] that “The Ministry also lost many of its best staff after unification, and is currently lacking in competence in a number of priority areas, e.g. it lacks managers, scientists, technical and administrative staff. Equally important, in a sector in which political considerations can have extraordinary influence, the political top of the Ministry has been unable to effectively shield its technical administrators from pressures for politically expedient, but technically questionable, decisions”. While problems of both politisation of decision-making and lack of technically qualified staff remain, the situation has improved markedly in recent years in both areas, partly as a result of Government commitment to address the issues and partly as a result of the move to privatization of functions such as fish marketing etc.

Funding for the Ministry of Fish Wealth to undertake its responsibilities comes from annual funding allocations from the Government. Revenues from fishing activities come principally from royalties and fishing license fees, particularly from the industrial fishery. In addition, the NCSFM collects a two percent marketing fee for fish sold through public markets and this contributes to Government revenues. While there is no formal link between the annual revenues received from these sources and the annual funding of the Ministry of Fisheries, in practice the two are usually closely linked.

International fisheries issues are also the responsibility of the Ministry of Fish Wealth. Yemen has bilateral fisheries agreements with Iraq (1977) and Eritrea (1998) although the former agreement has been essentially non-operational since 1990. Yemen is a signatory to both CITES and to the Regional Convention for the Conservation of the Red Sea and of the Gulf of Aden Environment and participates in the activities of these organizations as funds permit. Yemen ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1987 but has not ratified the UN Fish Stocks Agreement or the FAO Compliance Agreement. However, it has adopted the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its fisheries legislation and practices are broadly based on this Code.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The basic fisheries law of Yemen is contained within Law Number 42 of 1991 on Regulating Fishing, Exploiting and Protection of Marine Animals (‘The Fisheries Law’). The Fisheries Law was amended in 1997 through the issue of Law Number 43 of 1997 on Amending Some Articles of Law Number 42 of 1991 on Regulating Fishing, Exploiting and Protection of Marine Animals (‘The Amended Fisheries Law’).

The Fisheries Law and the Amended Fisheries Law define the powers of the Ministry of Fish Wealth and provide for a range of mechanisms to control fishing activities and to protect marine life and habitats. The Fisheries Law also contains the details of the administration of fisheries in Yemen, including the ability to license vessels and fishermen. The Fisheries Law and the Amended Fisheries Law have been further refined a number of times through the issue of Ministry and Cabinet Resolutions which add detail to the basic powers contained in the Fisheries Law. Many of the Resolutions issued between 1991 and 1997 were subsequently incorporated into the Amended Fisheries Law of 1997. Some of the more important of these Resolutions are:

• Presidential Resolutions of 1993 and 1995 issuing implementing regulations for the Ministry of Fish Wealth

• Ministerial Resolution 27 of 1997 establishing a guidance committee for fishing and fisheries management.

• Resolution Number 35 of 1997 of the Ministry of Fish Wealth defining the requirements of fishing vessels and fishing gear.

• Cabinet Resolution 232 of 1997 regulating the fishing, exploitation and protection of shrimp.

• Resolution number 35 of 1998 of the Ministry of Fish Wealth on the regulation of the export of fish and marine products.

The Fisheries Law and the Amended Fisheries Law do not provide for the preparation of management plans for individual fisheries but are, in essence, more development-orientated and include details on the administration of fisheries.

The Fisheries Law and the Amended Fisheries Law identifies the Ministry of Fish Wealth as the responsible agency for managing fisheries in Yemen. The Ministry is therefore responsible for management, research and development and enforcement activities.

Because the Amended Fisheries Law is relatively new, it has not yet been further reviewed or revised, apart from the issue of specific Resolutions that define details of the Amended Law.

STATUS OF THE FISHERIES

Although official reported landings to 2001 have shown a steady increase to around 142 000 t in 2001, reported landings for more recent years have shown a significant increase to 228 100 t in 2003^[373] worth an estimated 212.3 million US$. With the Government’s policy of developing the small-scale fishery sector in preference to industrial fisheries, the small-scale artisanal sector contributed 209 300 of this total while industrial fishing production declined to 18 700 t, from 24 100 t in 2002. Most significantly, exports in 2003 rose 27.9 percent in volume when compared with 2002, to a total of 63 600 t. The increase in export volume has been significantly influenced by Yemen meeting quality standards and gaining approval from the European Commission to export fisheries products to that market.

The status of many of the stocks in Yemen is uncertain, principally as a result of the lack of detailed and recent stock assessment and, more importantly, the lack of reliable statistics after 1990. Adding to the lack of reliable landings statistics is the capture of significant quantities of fish by illegally operating industrial fisheries and their direct transfer to other countries. These direct transfers were estimated in 1999 at up to 40 000 t per annum^[374].

The statistics collection procedures have, however, recently been upgraded and monitoring, control and surveillance activities have been improved. However, as welcome as these initiatives are, both surveillance activities (including prosecution) and the fisheries statistics collection system requires further improvement if reliable assessments of key stocks are to be undertaken in the future.

Despite the shortcomings of the lack of recent stock assessments and the lack of a time series of reliable statistics, there is general agreement among both Ministry of Fish Wealth staff and foreign scientists^[375] as to the status of many of Yemen’s fisheries. It is generally agreed that small pelagic resources (which are a shared stock with neighboring countries and consist mainly of sardines, Indian mackerel, chub mackerel and anchovies) are not generally over-exploited, although landings vary from year to year as a result of environmental factors, particularly the influence of the summer monsoons.

By contrast, there are very clear signs of over-exploitation of some high profile resources, although without stock assessment this cannot be confirmed. Catches of important pelagic stocks in the Red Sea, such as Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta), showed a sharp decline from a high of 7 301 metric tons in 1991 to only 720 metric tons in 1996. Another important commercial species, the kingfish (Scomberomorus commerson), has shown steady catches at around 3 500 metric tons since the early 1990s, despite an apparent substantial increase in fishing effort. Some demersal species in both the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (e.g. the grouper Epinephelus spp) are believed to be heavily and probably over-exploited, particularly in inshore reef areas. However, again, no recent or reliable stock assessments are available for this or other demersal species thought to be at risk. The Ministry of Fish Wealth, however, is aware of this deficiency and with the assistance of donors and individual experts, is attempting to undertake assessments of its major stocks. However, any such assessments are hampered by the lack of reliable resource data or landings statistics and fishing effort measures. More recently, the Ministry has explored the possibility of undertaking a comprehensive, fisheries-independent resource assessment of its waters using chartered research vessels^[376] and, subject to funding, such a survey may be undertaken in the near future.

In the Red Sea area, sharks are mainly caught for their fins, which are exported and fetch high prices on international markets. Intensive fishing effort and the use of gillnets brought shark catches in the Red Sea to a peak of 6 537 metric tons in 1993. Despite increases in fishing effort and an expansion in the number of shark species being landed, landings have declined since that time to around 5 500 t in recent years.

Of all the stocks, the valuable fishery for the rock lobster (Panulirus homarus) appears most vulnerable, both on the east coastal areas of the Gulf of Aden (to the Oman border) and in the waters around the Socotra Archipelago. Landings virtually collapsed to near zero in the late 1990s from peaks of around 400 t in the early part of the decade. This collapse was attributed to the widespread use of nets rather than traps to capture lobsters (resulting in many under-sized and egg-bearing animals to be taken) as well as increasing and unregulated fishing effort. Illegal entry of unregistered and unlicensed boats put further pressure on the stocks. Although landings have recovered a little in recent years, they remain 70-80 percent below earlier peaks with illegal fishing and export common. Enforcement capacity in the fishery remains inadequate.

The Red Sea shrimp resources (and, to a lesser extent, the smaller Gulf of Aden resources), which is based mainly on Penaeus indicus and P. semisulcatus, appear to have suffered as a result of heavy exploitation by both industrial and artisanal fisheries as well as from some unlicensed activities. Estimates of sustainable catches^[377] in the Red Sea, based on independent assessments, have ranged from 500 to 1 400 t per annum. While reported catches have been significantly less than this for the past decade, landings increased to around 1 200 t in 2001^[378]. The shrimp fishery has been the attention of significant management attention and closed seasons, gear restrictions and closed areas are in place. However, with the increase in reported catch (probably a more accurate reflection of actual catches than in the past), the resources may be being exploited beyond the maximum sustainable yield estimated previously.

Exploitation of cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) in Yemen has been primarily an industrial fishing activity and began in former Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY or southern Yemen) waters in 1967, continuing in 1970 with Japanese trawlers^[379]. These operations lasted until 1980-81. In addition, from 1972 to 1984, a joint Yemeni-Soviet Fishing Expedition caught cuttlefish and deep sea lobsters. Increasing and unregulated fishing effort, combined with intensive trawling on spawning aggregations, led to overfishing and a major decline of the fishery by 1982-1983, with reported annual landings falling from around 9 000 t to 1 500 t. With the re-unification of Yemen in 1990 and a decrease in industrial fishing activity^[380], reported landings began to recover after 1997, reaching 9 300 t by 2001. If the Government’s commitment to curtail industrial fishing is continued, then an increasing share of the cuttlefish catch will be taken by the artisanal fishery, which will bring additional complications of adequate surveillance and enforcement of regulations.

The Socotra Archipelago, which was declared a marine protected area in 1996, is an important part of fisheries activities in Yemen. Resource surveys made in the late 1960s and 1970s reported rich fishery resources in the waters surrounding the Archipelago. Kesteven and others (1981), from findings of the RV Dr. Fridtjof Nansen in 1974 and 1976, estimated biomass for demersal resources in the area at 55 000-116 000 metric tons and pelagics at 112 000-224 000 metric tons with yield estimates of 10 000- 20 000 and 39 000-78 000 metric tons, respectively. Fish, turtles and lobsters are important resources in the Archipelago and abalone is a potential resource for future exploitation.

In summary, the status of the major fish stocks in Yemen is generally uncertain because of the lack of reliable assessments and also a poorly developed statistics base. These two issues are, however, being addressed by the Government. Despite the lack of data and assessments, there is a general consensus that some major stocks may be over-exploited, in particular the lobster, shrimp, cuttlefish and some demersal species. There is not the same level of concern about the level of exploitation of small pelagic species. With the recent (2003) significant increases in reported landings to over 228 000 t^[381], the concern over over-exploitation of major fish stocks in Yemen can only increase.

A summary of the characteristics of the major industrial and artisanal fisheries in Yemen in 2003 is given in Table 1. There are no significant recreational fisheries and no data are available.

TBBLE 1
Summary of characteristics of major industrial and artisanal fisheries

* Estimated Value in 2002 U.S. Dollars.

MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY

The principles and goals of fisheries management are contained within the Fisheries Law and the Amended Fisheries Law. These two basic laws (together with subsequent specific Ministerial and Cabinet Resolutions) also enumerate the types of management activities that are permitted. These are:

• closed season and closed areas;

• prohibited fishing method and gear and specification of gear that may be used (including the mesh size of nets); and

• the species, sizes and other characteristics of fish and other aquatic organisms that it is permitted or forbidden to catch.

These powers under the Fisheries Law and the Amended Fisheries Law are implemented in different ways for different fisheries.

For example, the important fishery for large and small pelagic fisheries (which comprises the largest component of artisanal fishery landings and therefore the largest component of total landings in the country) has few management regulations. There are no restrictions on large pelagic fishing (apart from the need for vessels and crew to be licensed) while there are minimal gear restrictions on the fishing of sardines in the Hadhramaut (implemented through Resolution 26 of 1998) including the prohibition on the use of purse seine nets at night and during some months. With such minimal management intervention, it is perhaps not surprising that the pelagic fisheries are not only the largest in Yemen but also the sectors that are growing the most rapidly.

Demersal artisanal fisheries are, likewise, lightly regulated while industrial demersal fisheries (which are mostly demersal trawlers) have the following requirements:

• Industrial fishing vessels must operate beyond five miles of the coast in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea and beyond six miles of the coast on the Red Sea;

• Discarding of fish is not permitted;

• Two or more observers must be on board each industrial vessel;

• Mesh size of demersal trawl nets should be not less than 75 mm in the cod end and nets must be single layered.

The cuttlefish, shrimp and lobster fisheries are the most regulated in Yemen with the following regulations being in place:

• Closed seasons for shrimp (1 May to 30 August each year for coastal areas), cuttlefish (1-30 May and 16 August to 30 September) and lobster (30 March to 31 October). Closed seasons for lobsters and shrimp have recently been extended.

• Gear quantity restrictions in the lobster fishery where the number of traps is limited to 60 per vessel.

• Size limits for lobsters of 19 cm total length and a prohibition on the taking of egg-bearing lobsters.

• Prohibition on the taking of egg-bearing lobsters.

• Gear type restrictions for lobster (restricted to traps only) and shrimp (restricted to trawl nets).

Monitoring, control and surveillance activities, while improving, are not effective and illegal fishing is common. In particular, illegal fishing practices in the lobster fishery is very common because of its remote and small-scale nature and includes fishing with bottom-set nets, the taking of undersize lobsters, the taking of egg-bearing lobsters and fishing during the closed season. Unlicensed fishing by large industrial vessels has been a major problem in the past but is slowly being brought under control.

Stakeholder participation in the development and enforcement of fisheries policy and management measures is generally minimal at national level^[382] but important at village level, often through the mechanism of influential local fisheries co-operatives. As noted above, the capability of collection of robust fisheries statistics from both the industrial and artisanal fleets is being restored after a ten year hiatus following unification in 1990 and this will provide the basic data for future fisheries and stock monitoring. More comprehensive, but basic, fisheries research is undertaken periodically by the MSRRC, usually with assistance from aid agencies or through bilateral arrangements.

In 2003 and 2004, the Ministry of Fish wealth has acted to curtail the activities of the industrial fishery sector, including increased surveillance of territorial waters to deter illegal fishing. This illegal fishing, particularly by Egyptian and other vessels has been a particular problem in the past for Yemen. In addition, the Ministry began law suits to recover an estimated five million US$ in past license fees owing from a number of industrial fishing companies.

COSTS AND REVENUES OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

With fisheries development and management processes now being re-developed after the disruptions following the 1990 reunification of Yemen and with fisheries expanding, the costs of fisheries management and associated activities (enforcement, research and monitoring) are increasing. The Ministry of Fish Wealth receives an annual budget from the Government for its activities each year with this budget having increased over the past five years.

Revenues from fisheries licensing and royalties from the dwindling industrial fleet constitute the main source of fisheries-related income to the Government, although marketing taxes also contribute substantially to these revenues.

Although there is no formal link between the revenues received by the Government from fisheries royalties and licensing and the budget for the Ministry of Fisheries, in practice the Ministry’s budget has increased more or less in line with the increased revenues.

In Yemen, two percent of the value of the catch is collected as a marketing tax by the Ministry of Fish Wealth and, with the increase in both volume and value of the catch in recent years, revenues from this source has increased substantially. However, with exports increasing (particularly to the European Community), the Ministry is being lobbied to drop this tax on exports so as to retain the competitiveness of Yemeni fish products in the European market.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GLOBAL FISHERIES MANDATES AND INITIATIVES

Yemen ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1987 but has not yet ratified the UN Fish Stocks Agreement or the UN Compliance Agreement. However, Yemen is a signatory to CITES and broadly follows the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in framing its 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

Yemen is a signatory to the Regional Convention for the Conservation of the Red Sea and of the Gulf of Aden Environment (PERSGA) and participates in the activities of this organization as funds permit. Yemen also has bilateral fisheries agreements with Iraq (1977) and Eritrea (1998) although the former agreement has been essentially non-operational since 1990.

National legislation does not require that regional fisheries issues are considered in making management decisions for highly migratory and straddling stocks.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The fisheries sector has traditionally been, and continues to be, an important part of the economy of Yemen, contributing around three percent of GDP and employing (directly and indirectly) over 500 000 people, mostly in rural areas where there are few other employment opportunities. The fisheries have been, and continue to be, based on significant stocks of pelagic and demersal species, including high-value species such as lobster, shrimp and cuttlefish, and, as a consequence, Yemen is one of the largest fish producers in the region.

Prior to 1990, the two separate entities of Yemen, (viz. The Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen, or south Yemen and the Yemen Arab Republic in the north) pursued different fisheries development policies. The YAR had concentrated on supporting artisanal sector development while Government supporting infrastructure such as research facilities and monitoring, control and surveillance capabilities were not well developed. By contrast, the PDRY pursued a policy of supporting large-scale industrial fishing in the Gulf of Aden, with landings from this fleet including cuttlefish and demersal fish species. Artisanal fisheries development was of secondary importance although infrastructure facilities, such as cold storage facilities, fish markets, fish processing plants and boat and engine repair facilities were provided by, and run by, State-controlled corporations. The Government was also involved directly in the industrial catching sector through the Yemen Fisheries Corporation.

With the reunification of Yemen in 1990, these often-contradictory development policies needed to be integrated into a single, comprehensive and cohesive fisheries management and development by the Ministry of Fish Wealth. This task was made difficult, not only by the inheritance of the State-run production, marketing, processing and industry support Corporations (operating in southern Yemen) but also by the loss of expertise from the Ministry of Fish Wealth. However, with assistance from external donors, such as the World Bank, the European Commission and others, and bilateral assistance from a number of countries, Yemen has now developed a clear fisheries policy direction which is based on support of small-scale fisheries and limitation of the role of the industrial sector to offshore areas that are not exploited by small-scale fisheries. The three pillars of Yemen’s fisheries policy has been summarized by the Minister of Fish Wealth^[383] as the following:

• Fisheries management based on strengthened fisheries statistics, regular fish stock assessment and an expansion of applied fisheries research,

• Gradual withdrawal of the state from its involvement in commercial activities and future focus on provision of an enabling environment through an improved regulatory framework, enforcement of rules and regulations by way of a more effective monitoring, control and surveillance as well as quality control,

• Improvement of coastal infrastructure including the provision of the fishing communities not only with access infrastructure and protected landing sites but also with basic services such as power, water, health and education.

Within this strategy, there is the recognition that supporting policy, information, research and physical infrastructure has been, and is presently, inadequate to provide the basis for sound fisheries management and development. Therefore, Yemen is currently pursuing steps to provide these supporting services and, in particular, is in the process of upgrading its fisheries statistics system and its capabilities of fish stock assessment. In addition, the Government is also pursuing, within an overall Privatization Project, the privatization of functions that were previously undertaken by the various State-run Corporations, including fish production, marketing, distribution and processing.

While these reforms are being put in place, however, landings from all sectors of the industry are growing rapidly. This growth has been accelerated by sanitary certification by the European Commission of Yemeni fish and fish products, thereby allowing access of these fish and fish products to the large and lucrative European market. Reported landings^[384] rose by approximately 75 percent in the period 1994-2001, to around 142 000 t with landings further increasing to over 228 000 t in 2003, including over 60 000 t of exports. These increases are occurring at a time when there is considerable uncertainty regarding the status of some of the major fish stocks of Yemen, although there is general consensus that some of these stocks (in particular, the high value species of lobster, shrimp, some demersal species and possibly cuttlefish) are over-exploited.

Most importantly, much of the significant growth in Yemen’s fish landings have come from small and large pelagic stocks which are most likely shared with neighboring countries in both the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. To date, Yemen has only limited arrangements with some of these neighboring countries for joint or co-operative management of these transboundary stocks. Also, Yemen has not yet ratified the UN Fish Stocks Agreement which could provide the basis for management of these highly migratory and straddling stocks.

While Yemen has taken significant and important steps in addressing fisheries management policy issues, there remains much to be done. Stock assessments of the major commercial fish stocks need to be undertaken or upgraded to provide the basis for their management, monitoring, control and surveillance activities need to be upgraded to deter the presently common illegal fishing and management of transboundary stocks (particularly the important large and small pelagic species) needs to be increasingly seen within a regional context. If these reforms in fisheries management continue, the fisheries of Yemen can continue to be a major contributor to Yemen’s economy and to regional fisheries production.

REFERENCES

Kesteven, G.L., Nakken, O. and Stromme, T. 1981. The small pelagic and demersal fish resources of the northwest Arabian Sea. Further analyses of the results of the R/V.Dr Fridtjof Nansen. Survey 1975-76. Reports on Surveys with the R/V.Dr Fridtjof Nansen. Institute of Marine Research. Bergen. 55pp.

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 Yemen

Use of Fishery Management Tools within the three largest fisheries in Yemen

(1) Catch restrictions relate to the prohibition on discarding ‘trash’ or unwanted fish.

Costs and Funding Sources of Fisheries Management within the three largest fisheries of Yemen

(1) License fees, and other fisheries-related revenue, are paid to the Government Treasury. Management funding is then sourced from annual budget allocations to the Ministry of Fish Wealth. There is no specific link between the revenues collected and the budget allocation to the Ministry.

Compliance and Enforcement within the three largest fisheries in Yemen

Capacity Management within the three largest fisheries in Yemen

(1) Because there are few, if any, stock assessments of major fish stocks, the responses are the author’s opinions, based on published information and consensus of national and foreign scientists.