Fishing prohibited in Sharm, Dahab, Nuweiba, Taba

Received this from CDWS today:

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CDWS would like to inform all members that all kinds of fishing activities - for sport fishing and/or tourist trips (Egyptian or foreigners) - are prohibited by law in South Sinai, regardless of location or method of fishing, since it depletes the marine natural resources.

Both the decree number 4 for the year 2011, issued by the Governor of South Sinai, and the letter of the South Sinai National Park declare the entire coast of the Gulf of Aqaba as a natural reserve, including the coastline of the cities of Dahab and Nuweiba up to Taba.
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I guess this does not affect the local fishermen - they still need to make a living ...

why wouldnt it affect the local fisher men,,is it not a blanket ban,,i think there should be a blanket ban on fishing in the whole red sea,,i would imagine that those fisher men could make a better living from the diving industry than they do with un sustainable fishing

It doesn't affect local fishermen,because somehow many Egyptians have to make a living. They cannot all be divers. Aren't there any fishermen in your area? Is everyone in diving business in Ireland? I am sure not. So that applies to Egypt too. I myself would like to see many fishes too but I believe the fishermen and the divers can have a balance.If they stop overfishing,everybody will be happy.

What I see is that there is no blanket ban on fishing. It is forbidden for sport and recreational purposes I think.

I do not think these areas have big fishermen activities... the fisherman boats usually come from suez or hurghada...
of course I am talking about large boats, however still I think local fishermen with smaller boats do not exist in sharm to taba coastline

There are lots of local, mostly Bedouin fishermen here in Sharm and they are legally permitted to fish here in certain restricted locations. Of course, there is a lot of money to be made so sadly not all of their catch is within their legal allowances and is sold on to hotels and restaurants.

I've seen them trailing lines past Shark and Yolanda on early morning Thistlegorm trips in the summer time as they head out to their fishing grounds. They are not allowed to, but there's a big school of fat snapper that hangs around almost permanently at that time so why not try?

You can see big schools of snapper, jacks and emperors (to name a few species) in the summer, next time you dive here check out how many of them are trailing hooks and line. I've seen a fully grown napoleon hooked and a few months ago found a harpooned grouper on our house reef.

Fishing can be done sustainably here, but there's a quick and easy few egyptian pounds in sneaking the odd reef catch here and there - and they add up eventually.

I wasn't aware of any tourist fishing operations in the area, but that could be blind ignorance on my part rather than anything else. For sure the boat crews will trail a line when you're out in the blue (which was allowed) and maybe catch a fresh tuna which gets served up for lunch, but in terms of sport fishing operations, I wasn't aware they existed, at least in Sharm.

The problem is that none of these things are new, they've just been thrown into the spotlight due to recent media attention, so until something actually gets done and people start getting prosecuted, I am not holding my breath.

Cheers

C.

Crowley:

I wasn't aware of any tourist fishing operations in the area, but that could be blind ignorance on my part rather than anything else. For sure the boat crews will trail a line when you're out in the blue (which was allowed) and maybe catch a fresh tuna which gets served up for lunch, but in terms of sport fishing operations, I wasn't aware they existed, at least in Sharm.

Click to expand...

True when it comes to safari boats. But on daily boats, normally the fresh tuna stays in the fridge and the "ordinary" crappy lunch is served

A couple of years ago I knew there were organized tourist fishing trips out of Sharm. All what they used to do is avoid fishing in Ras Mohamed.

i went sea fishing from dahab in 98! no one mentioned any legislative issues, only price lol. please forgive my naivety so long a go. i prefer to see fish in the sea, not on my plate now

Before the law allowed bedouins to fish for theyr own support, but recently the law changed, and now is forbidden also for them to fish.
The problem is that they never cared about that rule before( they have selected area to fish...), and now is even worst

nikons81

not everyone here is in the diving industry at all,,the diving industry here in ireland is very small compared to the red sea areas i would imagine.. id say there is a lot of wreck diving going on here especially on the west coast but people dont come here to see millions of fish in great viz in bath tub temps they are more serious divers who wouldnt really care about the frezzing temps and bad viz..small fishing boats with 2 or 3 people on woulnt damage the eco system in the red sea,just keep them away from the sharks and sticking to quoatas and there can be a balance,, but taking all the sharks u can find and landing tons of fish is unsustainable and is only done for profit not so a few bedouin familys can survive,, i think there should be a ban on large companys and then let the bedouin away,,surely they wouldnt make a dent in the fish populations would they???