MUSCAT: Dr Saud al Habsi, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, has met with Dr Paul de Bruyn, the newly appointed Executive General of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), the Ministry announced on Wednesday.
It was Dr de Bruyn’s first visit to a Contracting Party, which was an opportunity to discuss the challenges of the Sultanate of Oman as Contracting Party of the IOTC.
Also present at the meeting were Eng Yaqoob al Busaidi, Under-Secretary of Fisheries, and top officials of the Oman Fisheries Department, handling IOTC matters, fleet development and statistics.
With this visit, the Sultanate of Oman has reconfirmed that is fully committed to continue playing an active role in the IOTC, the Regional Fisheries Management Organization of the tuna in the Indian Ocean.
At the meeting, Oman also presented to Dr De Bruyn a report on the importance of the Oman’s Blue Economy, in particular, the fisheries sector, included in the framework of Sultanate’s Plan 2020-2040; a detailed presentation on Oman’s system on data collection and statistics of fishing catches; and Oman’s sustainable plan on industrial tuna fleet for tropical tunas and restructuring artisanal fleet.
During his two-day visit, Dr de Bruyn also visited some port facilities and the fishing markets and the headquarters of Fisheries Development Oman.
IOTC’s Executive General provides interesting guidance to improve the compliance for the implementation of IOTC Resolutions on Management and Conservations Measures.
The Parties also discussed the steps undertaken by Oman on data collection and statistics system. Oman plans to submit a solid report on the increase in recent years of declared catches of yellow fin tuna, during the 19th Working Group on Data Collection and Statistics Meeting (WPDCS19), to take place in Mumbai in early December 2023.Oman also offered Dr de Bruyn an invitation to host future IOTC meetings.
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