Smuggling Fish from Yemen, 20% of Annual Production
For years, the fishing statistics never added up for me, and finally we have an official recognition of the issue. The figure is 40,000 tons annually or about 20% of total production, but its a rough number. That the statement was made by the Fisheries Minister and published by SABA is encouraging but only to the extent that the corruption is countered in an effective way. There has been public disclosure of many organized criminal activities, but little meaningful efforts to disrupt them after. There are a few potential non-oil industries that could be developed to replace the rapidly depleting oil economy and one of the most important is the fisheries.
SABA 40000 Tons of Yemen Fish Trafficked Annually, Minister Reveals
SANA’A, Nov. 10 (Saba) – Minister of Fisheries Mohammed Saleh Shamlan revealed Monday that 40.000 tons of fish have been trafficked abroad a year.The large quantities of fish, most squid, were trafficked with traffickers passing over unloading stations to avoid legal fees over the last year and this year.
Shamlan’s remarks were given during a discussion organized by the Fish Exportation Association Monday on the health standard strategy for the fishery sector.
For his part, secretary general of the association Ali Al-Habashi said that large quantities of fish including squid are sold at unloading posts and they don’t appear in statistics put forward to the ministry of Fisheries.
Officials at the posts besides other reasons were behind missing information on fish, he said, urging the authorities to take measures committing fishermen to pay legal fees and sticking to quality standards starting from hunting, unloading and preparation to delivery for consumers….Yemen hunts about 200 tonnes to 250 tons of fish annually, with almost 98.5 percent of the quantities by traditional fishermen.
