One point that goes in favor of Yemen is that as 95% of the catch comes from artisinal sector,the fish stocks will probably be sustained for quite a long period of time.For fisheries management plans to come into effect,one of the primary input is the fish catch data from all landing centers,through out the year.This can be done.Next,find out the year classes in each of the varieties,& the breeding season.Fishing grounds where adults breed need to be closed for fishing at least for the breeding period.The local fishermen needs to be educated on the importance of closed season/s. In case very young ones are caught,it's possible to culture them in impoundments so that they can be turned to aquaculture practices.This is comparatively easier as long as artisinal fishing is still in place. Once they take to aquaculture,some pressure on fish capture will certainly be eased.

Thank you Trivedi for you comment. Yes I do agree that aquaculture can play a major role in reducing excess capacity in capture fisheries, especially in Yemen where aquaculture industry has not initiated yet. Adopting a policy to encourage aquaculture and promote transfer of technology related to aquaculture will help accelerate the growth in this underdeveloped industry.

If the local fishermen take to aquaculture, thereby utilizing the coast, they will in future will have a right to the first use of the coast.This is important because,if they do not do so,then it is quite possible that in future industries will start laying their infrastructure,establishments right on the coast or even a little off shore-thereby curtailing the use of the coast by the local fishermen, resulting in clashes of the 2 interests,& fishermen being poor & illiterate,they could be the final loser in the process. This has happened in certain cases that I know of.

Dear Natheer,

Having visited Yemen in November/December this year, I was shocked by the quantity of shark landed by these artisanal fishermen, including a high percentage of juveniles. Asking the fishermen how much shark they caught ten years ago, then all fishermen agreed that catch rates have decreased. With the availability of ice the fishermen go further and stay out longer and they really put high pressure on shark resources. You would be surprised to what extent data are available in Yemen; not at the Ministry of Fish Wealth or at the Fisheries Research Authority, but at the cooperatives. The coops write down quantities of fish, name fisherman, name boat, price. Unfortunately not per trip, but still some useful information may be obtained from them. Send me your email address and I will send you a dataset for over 15 years from one coop, species wise! Very interesting indeed. Export data are of interest also. In fact the Ministry's fish production figures are based on the export data, multiplied by a certain factor (assuming that between 20 and 30% of fish production is exported). Talking of fisheries management: a minimum size for shark should be put in place, as well as a minimum size for billfish. In 30 years in the business I had never seen juvenile billfish, and here they were, in Yemen. Sailfish smaller than 80 cm!! So, formulating a policy is not easy, but emphasis in regulations should be placed on control of fishing effort (as practically always). There are about 88000 fishermen right now. Theoretically a licence system exists in Yemen, but is not put in practice. The present Minister is willing to listen to advice and at his request the EU will shortly fund a fisheries data collection project. There is also an IFAD project, planning to conducting stock assessment. So, there is hope. Instead of MCS there are the pirates, feared by many fishermen. There are also the foreign navy vessels against piracy that somehow indirectly control fishing activities. Fishermen stay far away from such vessels. Data collection at all the landing sites will be practically impossible as there are too many of them and the security situation at present hampers many movements along the coast. My advice would be to get in touch with cooperatives and try to analyse their datasets. Species group number 1 to be protected by law are the rock lobsters. I saw very tiny lobster in restaurants and at the markets. Then shark resources to be protected (stop killing the immature shark), particularly shark is food fish for thousands of people. The fins are sold, but in principle the entire shark is used, mainly for local consumption. The phenomenon "cooperative" is not synonym with co-management. Very few coops are involved in resource protection, although in some cases management measures were reported whereby boats were not allowed to be used during a certain period of time as they had been caught fishing in spawning or nursery areas. Good luck with the studies and best wishes for 2014.

Thank you so much Dr Martin for sharing your experience in fisheries of Yemen. Our major problem in Yemen is the lack of regulations. We do not have minimum size measures or net mesh size for different target species. Research is lacking the necessary fund and national experts lack the capacity to conduct stock assessment.

For licensing, there is a system, but it is functional only in main cities, while no compliance in remote areas. The levy imposed by the authorities lead fishermen and/or cooperatives to underreport or unreport to avoide paying the levy. Therefore, catch statistics is unreliable. To make fishermen report the actual catch, the current levy need to be modified, maybe an annual levy would be better. If the state can impose 1% of the catch value as a fund for research, it will stimulate research based decision making.

Hi Natheer,

Many "developed" nations also face similar issues, though undoubtedly not to the same extent that the Yemen does. Have you seen much of the work done on fisheries risk assessment, for example:

A qualitative risk-based assessment of impacts on marine habitats

and harvested species for a data deficient wild capture fishery

Karen L. Astles*, Philip J. Gibbs, Aldo S. Steffe, Marcel Green

Biological Conservation 142 (2009) 2759–2773

Seafish (UK Seafish Industry Authority) have currently just finished trialing a similar sort of assessment for south west England. Basically the process brought together key stakeholders in the sw region, and through a risk assessment framework prioritised issues of concern for management action.

However, I guess this process may be more tricky to undertake in a LDC where the formal education levels and environmental awareness of coastal communities may hinder such an approach?

Have you seen the papers by James Acheson and James Wilson on chaos and parametric fisheries management? The short version is that in their review of fisheries management regimes around the world, the ones with the most success are in fact the ones that focus less on quantitative management (i.e., fish counting, quotas), and more on the appropriate parameters for fishing, e.g., gear types, fishing locations, etc.). These papers suggest a really interesting paradigm shift that hasn't really caught on, though there was some good debate about it in the journal Marine Policy. Nevertheless, their argument stands and has not been falsified. Take a look at these papers and I think they'll help you put together a possible policy framework that could be really innovative.

Wilson, James A., James M. Acheson, M. Metcalfe, and P. Kleban. 1994. “Chaos, Complexity, and Community Management of Fisheries.” Marine Policy 18 (4): 291–305.

Acheson, James M., and James A. Wilson. 1996. “Order Out of Chaos: The Case for Parametric Fisheries Management.” American Anthropologist 98 (3). New Series: 579–594.

Hope this helps!