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A two-months long ban on fishing, trading and import of kingfish has come into force from August 15 till October 15, according to a ministerial decision issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources (MoAFWR).
Speaking to Observer, Dr Abdul Aziz Almarzouqi, DG of Fisheries Resources at the MoAFWR said that this seasonal ban is imposed because kingfish is a migratory species and its stock is shared by all GCC as well as regional countries like Iran, Pakistan, Yemen and Iraq hence Oman initiated to have a proper management of the kingfish which is a highly value species with a high demand in local as well as international markets.
"So, it is the first time that Oman is imposing such a ban after its successful resolution at the regional level including Iran and Iraq through a series meetings held under the umbrella of the FAO, between the GCC fisheries management for shared stock in 2020," Dr Abdul Aziz said.
Accordingly, all fishermen, fish transporters, companies and institutions dealing with the fishing and export of kingfish are urged to follow the ministerial decision.
Earlier, all concerned were advised to frequent the departments of fisheries in the wilayats to register their stocks of kingfish before the ban entered into force. No tradesmen will be allowed to trade and export unregistered quantities of kingfish during the moratorium period.
This highly value species, which is mostly needed in the region including in Oman, had faced, back in 1990’s, a series of overfishing and it was facing extinction.
A large scale of traditional fishermen still rely on it for their livelihood. Since it is a shared stock between many countries, a shared management and cooperation and coordination efforts between all the stakeholders was necessitated on the way forward for stock recovery and sustainability, according to Dr Abdul Aziz.
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