Report illegal fishing in Oman: Ministry

Muscat: People who see fishing boats trawling the seabed illegally should contact the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries immediately, the ministry has said.
In a statement uploaded on its official twitter handle, the ministry has urged people to text SMS or Whatsapp to 91400430 or call to 24322999 or 11999 if they sea-floor trawling in Omani waters.
The notice was uploaded in response to a video doing the rounds on social media platforms where a fishing trawler is shown pulling hundreds of fish into a vessel claiming that it was happening in Oman.
“The sea-floor trawling video circulated in social media is not from Oman,” the ministry said.
Sea-floor trawling is a technique where heavy nets are dragged across the sea floor to maximise fish catch.
According to a World Bank report, approximately 45,000 to 50,000 individual livelihoods depend on fishing or related activities.
Oman was the first Gulf country to ban sea-floor trawling. The ban was announced through a Royal Decree in June 2011.