Thursday 25 / April / 2024
Muscat: The Shura Council discussed the decision of the Ministry of Interior regarding the amendment of some provisions of the regulation of confinement of stray or neglected animals on Tuesday.
The Shura Council’s Food and Water Security Committee discussed the decision of His Excellency, the Minister of Interior, regarding the amendment of some provisions of confinement of stray or neglected animals regulations.
His Excellency Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Malik, Chairman of the Committee, said that the decision aims to achieve the desired balance between the previous ministerial decision on the subject and the cancelled ministerial decision No. (117/94) regarding service and administrative fines imposed on stray and neglected animals, stressing the effective partnership between the Council and the competent authorities, through which the Council was keen to present visions and proposals that would achieve the national interest.
H.E. indicated that since the issuance of decision No. (485/2020), the Council has followed up on the updates related to the effects of the decision on livestock breeders and made several recommendations in this regard. This will contribute to aspects related to the regulations of confinement of stray or neglected animals, including stopping the ministerial decision No. (485/2020) until a set of conditions are met, represented in activating the law on pastures, defining grazing areas by the Ministry of Housing, determining the locations of farms in each wilayat and working to unify the various decisions of all the governorates of Oman.
This will be in regard to the regulations of holding stray animals, creating a pasture committee in each of the wilayats of Oman, giving it the necessary powers with regard to defining pastoral areas, making guidelines and warnings for the places on the roads where stray animals are likely to pass through for the safety of public road users, and using phosphorous strips for stray animals as a kind of warning to road users to avoid the damage that could occur due to such animals.
The Chairman of the Food and Water Security in the Committee confirmed that the committee agrees with this decision, which takes into account the service and administrative fines that can be inflicted on the breeders of these animals. On the other hand, the committee hopes that livestock breeders will follow the measures that will mitigate the damages resulting from the presence of these strays, in order to preserve the safety citizens and residents.
Review of reports
During its meeting, the Food and Water Security Committee reviewed a number of reports of suggestions that were examined by the Committee during the current annual session and decided to refer them to the Council’s office. This included the report of the suggestion submitted by a member of the Council regarding not complying with the requirements related to the dead or disappeared Aflaj sites in the implementation of urban planning projects.
It also reviewed the report of the suggestion regarding the fluctuations in feed prices internally and ways to resolve it, which included a number of recommendations and proposals that the committee concluded. In this regard, the Committee pointed out the importance of speeding up the process of returning animal feed prices to what they were before the increase, because of their negative effects on livestock breeders, with the need for the Consumer Protection Authority to compel suppliers not to exploit this situation and to violate those who transgress.
In addition, the committee reviewed the report of the expressed suggestion submitted by a member of the council to create an electronic link between government agencies concerned with submitting applications for approval of building permits on agricultural lands. The committee agrees with the suggestion and expressed the necessity of accelerating the activation of the electronic link between the concerned authorities.
Continuing the meeting, the committee reviewed its report on the suggestion expressed and submitted by a member of the council regarding farms and barns to raise livestock. The suggestion illustrates the importance of implementing decision No. (46/2017) issuing the regulation for the use of lands designated for the establishment of farms and animal lands. The committee has studied this suggestion and is in agreement with the principle of the idea, and decided to refer it to the Council's office.
The committee also discussed its report on the challenges facing artisanal and coastal fishing, including regulating expatriate workers in the artisanal and coastal fishing profession, commercial, artisanal and coastal fencing, the quantities of landing commercial ships and investments in the field of commercial fishing vessels, as well as the regulation of fish oil powder factories.
