Tuesday 11 / February / 2025
Muscat: More than 400 expatriate workers have been arrested for violating the fishery laws and legislations in 2020, an official from the Ministry of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries and Water Resources said.
An official from the Ministry of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries and Water Resources, told the Times of Oman, “The annual statistical figures for fisheries control activities in the past 2020 revealed that 4,298 violations were found in various fishery laws and legislations.
“Where 147 violations were issued for non-compliance with the regulations for fishing of marine resources such as Al Shakhah, Al Sefailah and shrimp, 2,875 violations were of fishing licensing regulations.”
“408 violations of the use and possession of prohibited fishing methods, equipment and devices, and 111 violations of fishing in prohibited areas and times, 156 violations regarding the employment of unlicenced expatriate workers, 364 violations of non-compliance with the placement of plates on boats and ships, and 237 other violations were also noted,” he continued.
“The total number of seized equipment including boats, engines, nets, devices and other equipment reached 2,086. And the number of expatriate workers who have been arrested reached 492,” he went on to add.
“In addition to the confiscation of fish and marine resources that are caught and traded in the prohibited seasons or species that are not permitted to be caught throughout the year, the amount confiscated from these species in the past year amounted to more than 4.7 tonnes,” he confirmed.
Meanwhile, a number of nylon nets have been seized and confiscated by the Fisheries Control Team in Musandam Governorate.
A statement issued online by Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources said, “The Fisheries Control Team in Musandam Governorate was able to seize and confiscate a number of (nylon) nets, as the Ministry prohibits the possession or use of nets known as scorpion or nylon in fishing. Legal proceedings against the violators are being completed.”
