SALALAH, Feb 26 -
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has decided to allow lobster fishing from March 1 till the end of April.
The fishermen in Dhofar are preparing for two months of lobster fishing season as the ministry officials have completed preparations for the season with strict monitoring protocols so that the fishermen adopt the best practices while fishing. It also ensured that all those interested in fishing should have license for the same.
The Directorate-General of Fisheries in Dhofar Governorate had recently launched an awareness campaign to educate the fishermen to abide by the season restriction to ensure proper growth of the species and leave more room for them to grow.
“As such they should not catch small lobsters and strictly follow the net size norms set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and restrict to season only,” said an official.
They have also been advised to return the female lobsters loaded with eggs back to the sea as this is directly linked to better season next year.
Lobster is considered one of the most important fish resources in the Sultanate. Dhofar constitutes a major habitat along with some other governorates.
“Due to overfishing the production of the fish species was affected
in the Sultanate, as lobsters were fetching very high price and the fishermen were found not maintaining the best practices. For this we introduced license policy and launched awareness among the community members,” an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said.
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