Man faces legal action for catching sawfish
A Bahraini man faces legal action for catching a sawfish, it is learned. The violation was spotted by the marine life protection authorities, who were carrying out a patrol on the sea.
The accused fisherman was notified of the violation and action is being taken against him, sources said. Dismissing the rumors, the sources said that the caught marine creature was not a saw shark, “but a sawfish”. “The caught long-comb sawfish weighs around 300 kg.
The marine protection department, which comes under the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, has also notified the Supreme Council for Environment about the violation,” the sources said. The law published on Official Gazette in the year 2012, stipulates that sawfish belongs to a protected species.
And hence catching sawfish in Bahraini or regional waters or selling them in the market is prohibited by law. According to the law, fishermen who catch fish and other marine creatures listed under protected species, unintentionally are required to safely return them to sea.
According to marine experts, sawfish is a critically endangered species.
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