UAE fishermen call for clear seasonal bans aligned with neighbouring Gulf states
Emirati fishermen have been voicing frustration over unclear seasonal fishing bans and called for UAE fishing timelines to be brought in line with neighbouring Gulf states to support livelihoods and ensure local fish supply – the Federal National Council heard on Wednesday.
FNC member Mohammed Al Kashf questioned the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment over the prolonged fishing ban on certain species, particularly using wire traps known locally as hiyal.
Al Kashf said fishermen received text messages informing them of the ban without a clear timeframe, creating uncertainty and affecting their ability to plan around optimal fishing periods.
'This lack of clarity prevents fishermen from benefitting during the most suitable times of the year,' he said, urging the ministry to consider adjustments that support both fish stock sustainability and the economic wellbeing of Emirati fishermen.
Responding to the concerns, Minister of Climate Change and Environment Amna Al Dahak said the fishing ban period has remained unchanged since 2021 and currently runs from November 1 to May 13 each year, based on ministerial decisions informed by scientific studies.
Furthermore, the ministry sends regular notifications to fishermen, including reminders at the start and end of each season. 'These periods are based on studies that aim to ensure the regeneration of fish stocks and protect marine life,' said the minister, adding that awareness workshops are held in coordination with the Fishermen's Cooperative Union to keep fishermen informed. Four such workshops were conducted this year alone.
Minister Al Dahak stressed that preserving the fishing profession and ensuring its sustainability remains a key priority. 'We work closely with fishermen and regularly hold stakeholder meetings to address their challenges and align on goals," he said.
Coordination is also ongoing with local authorities and through joint technical committees at the GCC level, she added. Al Kashf welcomed the ministry's engagement but pointed out that fishermen still face operational difficulties when bans are imposed late or without fixed reopening dates.
He said preparations for the fishing season, such as recruiting crew and acquiring supplies, require significant time and investment. 'Veteran fishermen and sea-goers know the right times for the season to start, and the ministry is pushing efforts in the right direction,' he said. 'But there is a clear call from fishermen to begin the season in early October instead, to match neighbouring countries.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
17 minutes ago
- The National
Iran dealt 'a heavy slap to America's face', Khamenei says
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday the US had 'achieved nothing' after it joined the war to support Israel, and that Tehran had delivered 'a heavy slap to the US's face'. 'The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn't, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed,' Mr Khamenei said in his first speech since the war with Israel. 'It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing,' he said. 'The Islamic republic delivered a heavy slap to the US's face. It attacked and inflicted damage on the Al Udeid Air Base, which is one of the key US bases in the region,' he claimed in his first public statement since a ceasefire ended 12 days of war on Tuesday. Qatar said it shot down 18 of the 19 missiles launched at the US base it hosts, with one falling at the base which had already been emptied. The Iranian attack on the base was in retaliation for the US striking two nuclear facilities in Iran with massive bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile from a submarine struck a third. Mr Khamenei threatened to attack US bases in the region if Tehran is attacked again. 'The fact that the Islamic republic has access to key US centres in the region and can take action whenever it deems necessary is a significant matter,' he said. 'Such an action can be repeated in the future too. Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price,' he added. The supreme leader also hailed his country's 'victory' over Israel. 'I want to congratulate the great Iranian nation ... for its victory over the fallacious Zionist regime,' he said. 'With all that commotion and all those claims, the Zionist regime was practically knocked out and crushed under the blows of the Islamic republic,' he said. Israel and the US have also claimed victory in the war, claiming to have destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities. Mr Trump said the unprecedented American attacks had resulted in the 'total obliteration' of Iran's nuclear capabilities, and said they had set the country's programme back 'decades'. But leaked US intelligence cast doubt on that assessment, saying the strikes had probably set Tehran back by just a few months. 'They're not going to be building bombs for a long time,' said Trump, adding the strikes had set back the programme by 'decades' and that the ceasefire he had declared was going 'very well'. Israel's military said Wednesday it was 'still early' to assess the damage the war caused to Iran's nuclear programme. 'I believe we have delivered a significant hit to the nuclear programme, and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years,' said Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei acknowledged to Al Jazeera that its 'nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure'. The supreme leader's rhetoric about the US was in stark contrast to Mr Trump's approach to the future of relations. He said on Wednesday that the US would hold nuclear talks with Iran next week, teasing the possibility of a deal even after boasting that recent US strikes had destroyed Iran's atomic programme. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said on Tuesday that his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, but that it would continue to 'assert its legitimate rights' to the peaceful use of atomic energy.
The National
32 minutes ago
- The National
Abu Shabab back in spotlight as Israel's proxy in Gaza's war
As Israel's war with Iran is on hold, its main front has shifted back to Gaza, where it has started to work closely with the Abu Shabab gang. Analysts and Israeli media claim the group comprises murderers, drug dealers and former ISIS members. Gaza residents and human rights groups have accused the Yasser Abu Shabab Popular Forces of crimes from looting of aid to firing at, kidnapping and beating Palestinians who seek it. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed at aid distribution points by the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since its inception on May 27, including 93 by Israeli gunfire as they approached UN aid lorries, Thameen Al Kheetan, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement this week. Former Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel was arming a group of "criminals and felons" in Gaza. Mohammad Shehada, Gaza analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the Abu Shabab group is doing Israel's "dirty work". In exchange for keeping its members out of prison providing them with weapons, Israel wants the group to carry out reconnaissance and intelligence work, Mr Shehada said. "Before, they'd first send drones, then they'd send the sniffer dogs, then they'd send soldiers," he said. "Now they've changed the hierarchy by sending those gangs, and then the drones and then the dogs, and then the soldiers." Dozens of people seeking aid at GHF sites have gone missing, failing to return home, their families have reported to rights groups and authorities in Gaza. Prominent Palestinian investigative journalist Younis Tirawi has documented at least one instance of the Abu Shabab gang luring a civilian with the promise of aid before kidnapping and interrogating them. Anti-Hamas Following Mr Lieberman's claim, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move to support armed groups such as Abu Shabab aimed to "save the lives" of Israeli soldiers and oppose Hamas. The Abu Shabab gang is being presented as an alternative to Hamas, but Palestinian and Israeli experts say that is simply not possible. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University's Moche Dayan Centre, said the gang could not match Hamas, whose influence is entrenched across Gaza. "They cannot be an alternative to Hamas all over the Strip because their influence is very limited to the eastern part of Rafah – they don't have an impact in Gaza city and Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, etc," Mr Milshtein told The National. Similarly, Mr Shehada highlighted the disparity in the number of members in Hamas and Abu Shabab that disproves any claim that it could stand up to Hamas. "Israel is trying to whitewash running those proxies by saying that they are creating them as rivals to Hamas, but that's not what's happening," he said. "They're no match and cannot overpower Hamas's 30,000 or 40,000 members." Abu Shabab maintains it protecting aid rather than looting it, although an article in The New York Times cited the group's leader, Yasser Abu Shabab admitting to stealing aid. "Yasser Abu Shabab cannot frame himself as the 'Robin Hood' of Gaza," Mr Milshtein said. The gang has a "problematic reputation" in Palestinian circles, which calls it "Jeish Lahd" – a reference to the Christian militia backed by Israel in southern Lebanon in the 1970s. In fact, the Israeli support, as well as the group's own damaging actions, could lend credibility to Hamas rather than weaken it, Mr Shehada argued. "It lends credence to Hamas as defenders of Gaza ... and as the only thing standing between them and total societal collapse." Mr Shehada has been analysing the group's members. "Virtually every name I've come across is either someone on the run from authorities for murder, collaborating with Israel, a drug dealer, or a member of ISIS." At least two Abu Shabab members are known to have been affiliated with ISIS, Israeli media has reported. One is Issam Nabahin, who Israeli news outlet Ynet claims launched attacks on the Egyptian army in Sinai as an ISIS member. He was jailed by Hamas in Gaza but was released with other detainees after the war started on October 7, 2023, over fears that Israel would bomb prisons. Laying siege The deputy leader of the Yasser Abu Shabab Popular Forces is Ghassan Al Dheini, the brother of alleged ISIS member Walid Al Dheini – who was killed by Hamas – and who was reportedly involved in the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006, Ynet reported. Israel's relationship with the gang began after Israel took over the southern area of Rafah in May 2024, occupying and laying siege to it, Mr Milshtein said. In internal memos, Mr Shehada said, the UN had identified Abu Shabab as stealing aid under Israeli military protection. More publicly, Jonathan Whittall, who heads the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine, once again rejected claims by Israel that Hamas was diverting aid. "This doesn't hold up to scrutiny," he stressed last month. Instead, Mr Whittall explained the theft is being carried out by "criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces", who were allowed to operate in proximity to the Karam Abu Salem border crossing, which leads into Rafah. Mr Shehada said Israel had allowed armed groups to loot aid, even while stationed in near its soldiers. 'This allows Israel to externalise blame and say that they're letting food in, that it is Hamas looting the aid and that the UN is not doing a good enough job to protect its own aid convoys.' This atmosphere of insecurity has provided a pretext for the founding of the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), despite worldwide protest and condemnation of the move that sidelines the UN altogether. At distribution points operated by the GHF, Israeli army and private contractors, dozens of Palestinians have been killed or injured. Another Israeli outlet, i24, interviewed Mr Al Dheini after claiming the Israeli army had intervened in protecting Abu Shabab against Hamas in an incident on Monday. He said the group will continue to target Hamas as the 'only way to ensure the safety and security of people in the strip'. The gang aims to establish a 'government" in Gaza's south where it currently operates. "Israel has been trying since October 7 to create proxies in Gaza to carry out Israel's dirty tactics while giving Netanyahu plausible deniability for atrocities," Mr Shehada said. But they could find very few collaborators. After failing with tribal and community leaders, businesspeople and company owners, they resorted to people on the run from authorities for crimes that could send them to jail when the war ends. "So Netanyahu found a perfect match for himself. He and those gang leaders understand, if the war is over, they'll end up in prison for drug dealing, ISIS membership, murders, theft, etc."
Zawya
44 minutes ago
- Zawya
United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Chair United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Support Group for 2025–2026 Term
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Support Group unanimously endorsed the appointment of His Excellency Ambassador Jamal Jama Al Musharakh, UAE's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, as Chair of the Support Group for the 2025–2026 term, as of August 2025. The UAE will assume the Chairmanship from the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, which currently holds the position for the 2024–2025 term. This appointment marks a significant milestone, as the UAE becomes the first Arab country to assume this role. The UAE's leadership reflects the country's strong commitment to multilateralism, sustainable development, and proactive engagement in tackling the rising risks posed by climate change and disasters. Addressing the group during the meeting, H.E. Al Musharakh stated: "The UAE is fully committed to leveraging its leadership of the UNDRR Support Group to drive forward practical, long-term disaster risk reduction strategies. The UAE's priority will be to enhance international cooperation, ensuring that disaster resilience becomes integrated into every aspect of development. Furthermore, the country is committed to working closely with all partners to protect the most vulnerable groups and mitigate the growing challenges posed by climate change and disasters." The UNDRR Support Group plays a pivotal role in fostering dialogue among Member States and supporting the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. It also serves as a vital platform for strengthening international coordination and cooperation to reduce disaster risks and enhance resilience to both natural disasters. As the incoming Chair, the UAE will work to set priorities and guide discussions aimed at addressing the increasing challenges posed by such disasters, including those exacerbated by climate change. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Arab Emirates, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
