Muscat: Sardine season starts in the coast of Salalah from October to April every year. Huge schools of sardine are found in the sea shore between Raysut in the west to Mirbat in the east.
Fishing sardine happens in groups led by a captain; each group consists of 20 to 30 individuals. Catching sardine is a hard work that requires skills, precision and patience. It goes through several stages including locating sardine gathering spot, throwing the net and moving them to the shore before loading them in vehicles so that it can be sold in fish or feed markets. The need for many people to work at different stages of harvesting sardines creates jobs for many people especially youths and adds to the growth for the fishery sector as a whole.
The season is beneficial for livestock owners who use sardine as a high protein feed for their animals which in turn helps to yield more milk.
According to fishermen, during sardine season many tourists visit fishing sites to enjoy watching the process of fishing and documenting the different stages of harvesting sardine which shows that sardine season also has an impact on tourism sector.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, smaller fish account for 60.2 per cent of the Sultanate of Oman’s total fish production in 2019 in which sardine topped the production list by 47.4 per cent. The total quantity of sardines caught was 275,186 tonnes, most of which came from artisanal fishing (9.94 per cent).
Sardine season has an impact in the Omani economy, considering its benefits to many citizens who work in fishery, livestock and tourism sectors.
Many fishermen who depend on sardine season call for having a factory for canning and preserving sardines so that it can be a sustainable and valuable source of income.
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