Lack of rain and feeder fish are issues for UAE fishermen

FUJAIRAH // For Hassan Abdullah, the working day begins at 5am, just after dawn prayers, at Rughaylat port in Fujairah city.

Each day, the veteran fisherman and his team take a small, white boat made in nearby Khor Fakkan around to the nets set up about a kilometre from the shore. They will go back to check a second time later in the day.

Fishing has long been a crucial sector and a traditional economy for the UAE, with hundreds of kilometres of coastline on waters historically abundant with fish, and no landlocked emirates.

It has been a way of life for Mr Abdullah since the Trucial States era.

Fujairah’s fishermen use fishing nets, called al yakh, to catch migratory species such as tuna, as well as frigate mackerel and kingfish. Nets with smaller openings are used for smaller fish living closer to the shore, such as types of sardine, said Khalifa Masood, the Fujairah Cooperative Society for Fishermen vice chairman.

Fish traps, called al dawabi, ensnare emperor fish, king soldier bream and hamour fish. Fishermen also use hook-and-line fishing to catch the same breeds, Mr Masood said.

The fishing season finishes in April and starts again in late summer. The team will check about 15 or 16 places for fish, dropping hooks to pull up the nets that run about 22 metres deep into the water.

Mr Abdullah said that Fujairah’s waters, in the Gulf of Oman, differ from those in the rest of the country on the Arabian Gulf in terms of salinity and sea levels.

“This is because there is not much rain now as was the case in the 1950s and 1960s,” he said. “The rain keeps the salinity to a moderate level and therefore fish move closer and increase in amount.”

When there are few fish, as there were one late afternoon in early March when the nets turned up only two, Mr Abdullah attributes the scarcity to either unclean water or a lack of feeder fish.

“When there are no sardines, there are no big fish,” he said.

Earning between Dh4,000 and Dh10,000 a month, depending on the catch and prices on the market, Mr Abdullah then shares 50 per cent of the revenues with his team, he said, and pays for the boat, engine and other supplies, such as nets.

“If there’s nothing in the afternoon, maybe there will be in the morning,” he said.