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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.
The fisheries production trend in the past decade is indicated in the flowing table:
Year |
1979 |
1989 |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
Production 1 000 t |
40 |
300 |
315 |
327 |
354 |
368 |
350 |
382 |
400 |
385 |
430 |
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%)
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%
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:
Province/year |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
Khozestan |
876 |
990 |
1 330 |
Bushehr |
3 460 |
1 870 |
2 650 |
llonnozgan |
1 850 |
2 000 |
2 800 |
TOTAL/tonnes |
5 885 |
4 860 |
6 780 |
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.
The table below presents the amount and value of shrimp exported during past few years:
YEAR |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
Export/tonne |
849 |
1630 |
1000 |
1188 |
931 |
2100 |
2489 |
3095 |
Value/000$ |
5574 |
7800 |
7000 |
9000 |
3588 |
8664 |
8986 |
9567 |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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%
If these problems persist, the pressure on fishery resources will increase dangerously.
To improve the situation of resource exploitation, the following points are
recommended:
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.
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:
Improving the conservation and long-term sustainability of living aquatic resourcesThe practical purpose of the project includes:
Reduction of by-catch in shrimp trawlingFor this purpose, the proposed activities include, among others:
Testing several by-catch reduction devices under commercial fishing conditions, on board different type of vesselsIt 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.
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.
Overall Objective |
Objectively verifiable Indicators |
Means of verification |
Risks |
• Optimising exploitation operations and methods • Setting fishing effort compatible with sustainable yield • Improving the conservation and long-term sustainability of the resources and fisheries • Preventing irreversible or unacceptable damage to the environment • Improving the long-term social and economical benefits from fishing |
• By-catch reduction • Increase in shrimp catch rate • Reduction in discards • Improved quality of shrimp • Increase shrimp price
• Adjustment of fishing effort and reduction of it on the species overfished • Increase of the demersal fish stocks • Improvement of environmental indicators • Reduction of conflicts and fishing competition • More fishermen’s participation • Improved regional cooperation |
Observers on board Periodical study and evaluation Systematic data collections Measurements on the catch (shrimp and fish) Biometry Permanent control of fishing efforts Fluctuation of shrimp market price Organisation and participation of fishermen and fishery operators |
• Insufficient attention to precautionary approach concepts in general • Deficiency of fisheries management agreements • No/or insufficient consideration to social aspects in fishery communities; including possible effect on fishermen’s employment • Lack of tests in real commercial and specific conditions, i.e. vessels with different sizes and arrangements, trawl nets in use, different fishing grounds
• Insufficient consideration to economic aspect, i.e. cost-benefit analysis and immediate economic impact. • Limitations in providing and setting BRDs • Lack of regional cooperations • Insufficient attention to fishermen’s participation • Extension and training programme weakness |
Project immediate practical purpose |
Expected results | ||
• Reduction of by-catch in shrimp trawling • To prevent fishing of unwanted fish • To improve socio-economic benefits for fishermen • To reduce the amount of discarded fish during the shrimp-trawling season • To contribute to maintenance of species diversity and environmental quality |
• Less of juvenile fish in the catch • Less time spent for sorting the catch • Improved quality of shrimp caught • Higher value for shrimp caught • Possibility of increasing shrimp catches • Improved working condition of fishermen • Adjustment of fishing effort to specific, target, demersal fishes and shrimp resources and proper fisheries management • Reduction of fishing damage on environment • Environmental quality properly maintained • Possibly, increased trawling times • Possibly, reducing crew number on board • Improved technical capacities and skill of fishermen • Maintenance/increase of income when trawling for shrimp • Minimised waste and improved efficiency, in general • Sustainability of fishery being ensured |