Booming Fisheries industry in Yemen [Archives:2005/904/Business & Economy]
By Yasser al-Mayassi
Yemen possesses a long coastal stripe extending for over 2500 km, with regional waters that are found to be rich in rare species of marine life which have an unmatched demand in the global market; therefore, the marine wealth of Yemen has the potential to be a major resource of national revenue with good employment opportunities should this wealth be exploited in a much-needed systemic and efficient approach.
For many years, the Yemeni fish wealth has been suffering from problems such as fishery pirates from other countries who enter the Yemeni regional waters in order to illegally fish and thus plunder this Yemeni wealth in addition to the damage they inflect on marine life and rare species.
However, interest has begun around the protection of national marine wealth to render it as a significant source of national income: cooperative societies have been formed for fishermen who have began exporting fish and other marine life to overseas markets especially European, some investors have also built factories for fish canning in Hadramout.
Correspondingly, the World Bank (WB) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) have realized that the Yemeni marine wealth is indeed a vital sector in need of development; Indeed, The WTO has offered Yemen a $400 thousand financial grant to support research and development in fish and marine life products for exportation, the research project would continue for two years and aims at developing fish production, good quality, and also support the Yemeni society of fish exporters. The support also includes supporting the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Wealth with regards to preparing studies and research related to development of fisheries industry in the country.
This grant constitutes the fifth project funded by the WB and the WTO with regards to development of the fisheries industry, the recent projects on the issue included a project for sea monitoring and inspection at a cost amounted to three million US$.
Because of these projects, the number of fishermen reached at 65 thousands compared to 25 thousands in 1990, providing over 2890 new job opportunities annually, varying from fishermen to retailers and marketers of marine life products, it is estimated that the total of workers in fisheries and marine life and related industries reach 1.7 million people, Factories of fishing boats have reached eight, in addition to workshops specialised in manufacturing wood boats. Each factory production capacity is between 500 to 1000 boats in the governorates of Mahra, Hadramout and Aden.
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