GCC states have been asked to help protect kingfish.
Doha
The Ministry of Environment (MoE) has asked fishermen to comply with a ban on catching kingfish to maintain a reasonable stock of the species through healthy breeding.
The ban comes into effect this Saturday and will remain in place until October 15.
Kingfish accounts for 13% of the volume of fishing activities in Qatar, involving some 180 fishing vessels. This amounts to 35% of the total licensed fishing vessels in Qatar.
A decision to this effect was endorsed by the Agricultural Cooperation Committee of the GCC at its 23rd meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 16, 2012. It stipulated that all GCC member states should take necessary steps to protect kingfish, which included specifying the season for enforcing a ban and other measures.
All member states have agreed to enforce the ban on kingfish from August 15 to October 15 every year, starting from this year.
The MoE has also put in place a system of restricting fishing activities in April and May since 2008 to allow for healthy breeding of all key fish varieties in the country.
