Shura, MPs Split on Who Can Bring Trainees on Fishing Boats

TDT | Manama

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Trainees on commercial fishing boats are at the centre of a law change MPs will vote on Tuesday, after the Shura Council altered Parliament’s draft.

The Public Utilities and Environment Committee has urged Parliament to stick with its own text, with the dispute narrowing to Article One, which rewrites Article 3 of Decree-Law No. 20 of 2002 on the regulation, exploitation and protection of marine resources, and a new added clause inserted by the Shura Council after renumbering.

Both chambers agree on the bill’s title and preamble, and on changing the wording of the 2002 law by replacing ‘State of Bahrain’ with ‘Kingdom of Bahrain’ wherever it appears. They also agree on the implementing clause.

Under Parliament’s version of Article 3, the ban on non-Bahrainis practising commercial fishing would stay in place, without prejudice to the special rules for citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council states. The licensing rules would also remain, with permits still spelling out the vessel’s specifications, the methods and gear used, crew numbers and roles, where the boat may work, the seasons allowed, and the types and quantities of catch permitted. The requirement for a Bahraini captain (nukhutha) on board would remain.

Parliament’s draft then adds a training route inside Article 3, allowing either the vessel owner or the Bahraini fisherman to take relatives, or other Bahrainis, on a commercial fishing vessel for training, under rules to be set by a ministerial decision.

The Shura Council removed that training sentence from Article 3 and instead proposed a separate new provision, Article 3 bis. This would allow a Bahraini captain (nukhutha), after gaining the employer’s consent and approval from the competent authority, to take any Bahraini on board for training, as long as the trainee sits within the vessel’s maximum crew limit and the steps are set by a ministerial decision.

The bill’s stated aims include keeping the fishing trade alive and passing know-how from one generation to the next, encouraging Bahraini youth to take up fishing-related work, and allowing structured training at sea, alongside updating the law’s wording to match the term used in the Constitution and the National Action Charter.