Post by Dive Bunnie on May 29, 2010 20:02:05 GMT
Yes it is true. At present we are fighting a war... with fishermen.
Ras Mohammed is meant to be a marine protected area... although some very limited fishing for a couple of hours each day, is allowed away from the reefs by Bedoins with single lines only (I believe). Basically this is to enable the original locals to follow their customs and feed their families in the best way they know how.
However these rare fishing licenses have been much sought after, and in true entrepreneurial stylee some owners of the papers to fish have been selling them to commercial fishermen.
Whilst I have yet to witness this first hand, apparently up in El Tor it is quite easy to get hold of shark, barracuda and a whole host of Red Sea aquatic life from the local fishmongers.
Again I was not a witness to the latest disaster, however the group I have been guiding all week dropped in on the fringing reef near Shark and Yolande Reefs, slap bang in the middle of prime MPA territory and found a large, commercial fishing net sat at about 30M! How depressing... and what was really sad was that several surgeon fish had already become trapped in the netting.
Well I promised my guests that I would report the incident, so contacted the CDWS who have passed the information on to the National Parks Authorities, who hopefully will put together a project to remove the net. It is about 25m long and 3m wide, so potentially damaging to a large swathe of reef, not to mention the fish that are currently trapped.
I just find it amazing that these fishermen have no consideration for the local area. On a purely financial basis, El Tor would shut down should the fish deplete so much that people no longer come to visit Sharm. It is a huge bringer of wealth to the area, and to people that work here. Are they so blind that the cannot see that the aquatic life is a big part of what draws all these people? Without that, all the taxi drivers, the shopkeepers, hotel workers and bartenders would all have to shut up shop and return home to their previous jobs and meagre wages.
Anyway, not a lot else that I can do.. I will let you know how the net salvage goes.
Ras Mohammed is meant to be a marine protected area... although some very limited fishing for a couple of hours each day, is allowed away from the reefs by Bedoins with single lines only (I believe). Basically this is to enable the original locals to follow their customs and feed their families in the best way they know how.
However these rare fishing licenses have been much sought after, and in true entrepreneurial stylee some owners of the papers to fish have been selling them to commercial fishermen.
Whilst I have yet to witness this first hand, apparently up in El Tor it is quite easy to get hold of shark, barracuda and a whole host of Red Sea aquatic life from the local fishmongers.
Again I was not a witness to the latest disaster, however the group I have been guiding all week dropped in on the fringing reef near Shark and Yolande Reefs, slap bang in the middle of prime MPA territory and found a large, commercial fishing net sat at about 30M! How depressing... and what was really sad was that several surgeon fish had already become trapped in the netting.
Well I promised my guests that I would report the incident, so contacted the CDWS who have passed the information on to the National Parks Authorities, who hopefully will put together a project to remove the net. It is about 25m long and 3m wide, so potentially damaging to a large swathe of reef, not to mention the fish that are currently trapped.
I just find it amazing that these fishermen have no consideration for the local area. On a purely financial basis, El Tor would shut down should the fish deplete so much that people no longer come to visit Sharm. It is a huge bringer of wealth to the area, and to people that work here. Are they so blind that the cannot see that the aquatic life is a big part of what draws all these people? Without that, all the taxi drivers, the shopkeepers, hotel workers and bartenders would all have to shut up shop and return home to their previous jobs and meagre wages.
Anyway, not a lot else that I can do.. I will let you know how the net salvage goes.