Around 50,000 fish are being grown in a reserve by the Dubai Fishermen's Cooperative Association with the aim to increase the numbers of local fish at risk such as hammour.
Maj Gen Mohammed Al Merri, Chairman of Dubai's Fishermen's Cooperative Association, said that the reserve currently has 40 net cages off the shore of Palm Deira.
This project, he said, aims to increase the population of local fish, such as hammour (spotted grouper), subaiti (a fish close to the sea bass), Qabid (gold-lined sea bream), safi (rabbit fish) and sherri (Spangled Emperor).
"We raise the fingerlings [young fish] in those nets, and when they grow to a certain size we release them into the open sea, to increase the population,” he explained.
The farm ensures that the small fish do not get caught and are able to breed to increase the population.
"We currently have around 5,000 subaiti fish, 150-200 large hammour (between 1.5kg-2kg), 5,000 small hammour, 3,000 Qabid and 2,000 Safi.” Maj Gen Al Merri said.
This is just one of the different projects the association is testing to preserve UAE fisheries. "In 2013, we released large numbers of hammour in their natural habitat, so we can compare whether farming them in cages or letting them grow in their environment yields better fish.”
He said Dubai Municipality, Khalifa bin Zayed Centre for Marine Research and the Ministry of Environment and Water are some of the strategic partners that lend their technical expertise for testing.
The UAE has some 150-200 varieties of fish that live in its waters, but people do not know about them. "There is no fish culture here; very few people know our local fish. Once, during one of the fish-releasing events, we asked some of the schoolchildren what are some of our local fish and they could only name two, bulti (tilapia) and buri (mullet), Tilapia is a freshwater fish and does not live in the UAE, it's imported.”
At the association, he said, they are trying to change that and educate people, especially children, about local fish, so they can protect the local fisheries in the future.
The association supports Emirati fishermen by giving 110 Emirati fishermen between Dh5,000-Dh25,000 a month each, which is funded by the Dubai Government, said Khalid Juma Al Falasi, General Manager of the Association.
"This money is to help and encourage Emirati fishermen to stay in the business, as fishermen do not make a lot of money. Between Dh8 million to Dh9 million a month is given to fishermen in the city to support them. The amount they get depends on the size of the boat they operate,” Al Falasi explained.
The association has many initiatives that aim to support fishermen and provide them with resources at low prices with minimal profit. For example, the ice factory, which currently produces 120 tonnes of ice, the bread factory, which sells bread used for fishing and the fishing equipment factory.
The association will also start giving fishermen courses on how to do a feasibility study and manage their finances.
Source: Gulf News