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Shrimp smuggling rampant despite ban

ManamaA network of poachers are smuggling tonnes of fresh prawns out of Bahrain, despite a six-month ban on all shrimping activities. 

This was revealed by Waheed Al Dossary of Bahrain Fishermen Society (BFS) at a press conference organised to convey fishermen’s rejection of “lenient supervision on violators of the ban”.

 “Around 400 small boats are breaching the ban by catching and selling shrimp,” he said at the conference.

“We have discovered that some local professional and amateur and Asian sailors are involved. They work in an organised way and the shrimp is sold to marketers before the boats reach the shores. The marketers usually sell the shrimp to shops, street vendors and in some cases export it to neighbouring GCC countries,” Al Dossary said, explaining that these processes are usually done at unofficial and unsupervised ports around the island. Al Dossary called for more coordination between the Agriculture and Marine Resources Affairs in Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry, Coast Guard Directorate in Interior Ministry and local fishermen to curb such practices.

 “We are not against the ban. But it shouldn’t be breached and the authorities should tighten its grip on violators. Some fishermen are catching small shrimps and preventing them from reproducing. This will have dangerous effects on national food security,” he added. It’s noteworthy that Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf issued Resolution 27 of 2017 on March 7, banning shrimping and the sale of fresh shrimps for six months. The ban came into effect on March 15, banning shrimping and the sale of fresh shrimps.

The minister affirmed that violators will be subjected to the penalties mentioned in Law 20 of 2002 including the confiscation of ships and equipment used in shrimping during the ban.