Gaza fish farms beat Israeli blockade

A Palestinian worker displays shrimps from a pool at a fish farm, in the town of Rafah, southern Gaza strip. Khalil Hamra / AP Photo

A Palestinian worker feeds fish in a pool at Fish Fresh fish farm, in the town of Rafah, southern Gaza strip. Khalil Hamra / AP Photo

Two Palestinian fishermen clean up a fishing net while standing on a boat at the seaport of Gaza City. Khalil Hamra / AP Photo

Palestinian children play on a fishing boat as fishermen prepare their fishing nets at the sea port of Gaza City. Khalil Hamra / AP Photo

Palestinians display fish for sale in the fish market of Gaza City. Khalil Hamra / AP Photo

A Palestinian man passes by fish displayed for sale in the fish market of Gaza City. Khalil Hamra / AP Photo

A Palestinian man prepares grilled fish on the beach at Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The Strip, with a 40-kilometre (25-mile) Mediterranean coastline, was always known for its seafood until Israel restricted the fishing area. As a result, Palestinians have begun importing fish and other seafood from Israel or Egypt and, in recent years, building fish farms. Khalil Hamra / AP Photo

Blockaded by the Israeli navy, the fishermen of the Gaza Strip can only venture a few kilometres off shore in their search for a catch.

But if they cannot go to the fish, one answer is to take the fish to the fishermen.

Fish farms are an alternative to expensive imports from Egypt and Israel.

Rezek Al Salmi, who worked at an Israeli fishery for 20 years, has built Gaza’s first prawn farm in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Strip.

Four other commercial fish farms have been started in Gaza, most of them producing bream. Last year, Gaza’s fishermen brought back only 2 tonnes of fish caught in the sea, while the farms produced 220 tonnes, the territory’s agricultural ministry says.

One of those is Fish Fresh, the largest grower of bream in Gaza, with customers including restaurants and the general public.

Rafah restaurant owner Abu El Amir Zurob says rough seas can limit catches. “Sometimes there is no fish for five days, so there is nothing but these farms to get the fish. They help us so much.”

Fishermen are less enthusiastic, saying the farms cut into their income. “When there is a lot of fish, when the farms produce so much, prices go down,” says Sami Al Hessi.

* Associated Press