Review of the Fisheries Resources of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden
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Morgan Mariculture and Fisheries Department Kuwait Institute for Scientric Research K SR) P.O. Box 24885 13109 Safat Kuwait FOOD AND Ar-111CULTLIFIE OGAMZATON OF THE !RATED NATIONS Rome,/ 1989 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and AgricultureOrganizationofthe UnitedNations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. M-43 ISBN 92-5-102832-X All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means. electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without Ihe prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission. with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reprOduclion, should be addressed to the Director, Publications Division. Food and Agriculture Organization of the Un ted Nations. Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rorne, Italy. © FAO 1989 - PREPARATION OFTHIS DOCUMENT Thisdocument has been preparedas part ofFAO'S Regular Programme activities, and is intendedto provide a background on the state of the fisheries resources of the Red Sea andGulf of Aden against which fishery development can beplanned, and againstwhich the needs for future research and management might be gauged. The report concentrates on summarizingthe published andun- published material, generatedmainly duringthe past two decades. Inevitably a considerable amount of data and information has been left aside in producingthese summaries and therefore it is strongly recommended that, as faras possible, the original reports cited in the text also be consulted. The reviewhas beenlimited to the crustacean, molluscan and finfish resourcesexploited in the region. The potentially significant but as yetunfished resource of mesopelagic fishes (Fam. Myctophidae) have been included; but the marine mammals, reptilesand algae have not. Distribution: FAO Fisheries Department FAO Regional Fisheries Officers Marine Sciences (general) iv Sanders, M.J.; Morgan, G.R. Review of the fisheries resources of the Red Sea and Gulfof Aden. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 304. Rome, FAO. 1989. 138p. ABSTRACT The ten countries which border the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden depend to varying degrees on the area for their fish supplies with some countries such as South Yemen being totally dependent on the fish resources while to others, such as Israel and Jordan, the area is of minor importance. Catches of all fish species have been increasing slowly in recent years and in 1986 totalled 60.9 thousand tons from the Red Sea and 99.4 thousand tons from the Gulf of Aden. After reviewing the resource assessment and survey work which has been carried out in the area it was concluded that further increases in landings could be achieved on a sustainable basis. However such increases will come from the development of new fisheries and the expansion of the areas presently Fished rather than from traditional fisheries which are, in general, fully exploited. Utilization and marketing problems, particularly with small pelagic and mesopelagic species, however need to be addressed for the full potential of the area to be realized. v CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, HYDROLOGY AND PRODUCTIVITY 3 FISHERY DESCRIPTIONS, STATISTICS AND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT 13 3.1 Egypt 14 3.1.1 Fishery Description and Statistics 14 3.1.2 Resource Assessment 23 3.2 Sudan 39 3.2.1 Fishery Description and Statistics 39 3.2.2 Resource Assessment 44 3.3 Ethiopia 46 3.3.1 Fishery Description and Statistics 46 3.3.2 Resource Assessment 49 3.4 Jordan 51 3.4.1 Fishery Description, Statistics and Resource 51 Assessment 3.5 Saudi Arabia 53 3.5.1 Fishery Description and Statistics 53 3.5.2 Resource Assessment 58 3.6 Israel 67 3.6.1 Fishery Description, Statistics and Resource 67 Assessment 3.7 Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) 68 3.7.1 Fishery Description and Statistics 68 3.7.2 Resource Assessment 71 3.8 Djibouti 79 3.8.1 Fishery Description and Statistics 79 3.8.2 Resource Assessment 83 - vi - 3.9 Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) 90 3.9.1 Fishery Description and Statistics 90 3.9.2 Resource Assessment 94 3.10 Somalia 112 3.10.1 Fishery Description and Statistics 112 3.10.2 Resource Assessment 114 4. CONCLUSIONS 118 4.1 Egypt 119 4.2 Sudan 120 4.3 Ethiopia 120 4.4 Jordan 121 4.5 Saudi Arabia 121 4.6 Israel 122 4.7 Yemen Arab Republic 123 4.8 Djibouti 124 4.9 Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen 124 4.10 Somalia 126 4.11 General Conclusions 126 5. REFERENCES 127 1. INTRODUCTION The Fisheries resources of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (Figure 1) support marine fisheries In ten countries, viz. Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, YemenArab Republic (North Yemen), Djibouti and Ethiopiawhich border the Red Sea and Somalia and Democratic Peoples Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) which border the Gulf of Aden. The importance of these marine resources to the total fish supply in the countries varies widely and ranges from total dependence in the case of South Yemen and Djibouti to only minor Importance as with Sudan (Table 1). Of the ten countries, only South Yemen Is able to achieve full self-sufficiency In fisheries products combined with a high per capita consumption of fish. As is shown in Table 1, half of the countries import a significant proportion of their total fish supplies whereas others such as as Sudan and Ethiopia experience shortages of hard currency with which to pay for imported fish as a supplement to local supplies. Per capita consumption in these countries Is, as a consequence, extremely low. Aquaculture development has proceeded slowly in all ten countries with only Egypt and Israel having a significant proportion of their total fish supplies being derived from aquaculture. Such aquaculture, however, is relatively low technology, involving pond culture of tilapia and carp species and is a traditional feature of fish production particularly along the river Nile. There is, however, considerable scope for Increased production from these facilities with proper management (lnfosamak, 1987). Marine fish farming is not undertaken In the region with the exception of small pilot-scale commercial production of penaeid shrimp in Saudi Arabia and Israel and although modest expansion of both shrimp and marine fish culture Is a likely development within the next decade or so, it is not expected to contribute significantly to fish supplies In any country of the region. The resources of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are therefore not only of immediate Importance in supplying the marine fish resources for the bordering countries but their development and management could contribute significantly In the future to both reducing dependence on imported fish and increasing per capita fish consumption. Such development objectives will naturally differ between countries although the implementation of both objectives depends on theorderly development of the various fish resources of the area and regional co- operation In their management. Various estimates of the total potential annual landings fromlthe Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been made and rangs up to 360 x 10 t for the Red Sea (Gulland, 1971) and 267-414 x 10 t for the Gulf of Aden (Kesteven et al, 1981). The latter value does not include the mesopeiagic fishes found to be particularly abundant throughout the Arabian Sea, Including the Gulf of Aden. The potential yield of the -7- Table 1. Sources of fish supply (food and Don-food) for countries bordering the