Illegal fishing traps continue to pose a major problem for Bahrain’s marine resources and further damages its international environmental performance standing and reputation.
The news comes despite Bahrain significantly improving its performance over the last decade on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) developed by Yale University.
The EPI is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state’s policies.
According to Arabian Gulf University GIS and Environment Associate Professor Dr Sabah Al Junaid, Bahrain has risen 16.3 points on the EPI in the last decade to reach 51 points (out of 100) in 2020.
“This improvement is vastly due to relentless efforts exerted since 2014 to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants,” she said during the ‘Environmental Challenges in the GCC Countries’ webinar organised yesterday by the Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies – Derasat.
“Bahrain has also committed to enhancing its energy efficiency by six per cent while also increasing sources of renewable energy by 5pc by 2025, in addition to large investments in solar energy and increasing the levels of treated and recycled waters.”
According to the research, Kuwait scored 53.6 (12.6 point increase), Oman 38.5 (11 point increase), Saudi Arabia 44 (6.4 point increase), the UAE 55.6 (11.3 point increase) while Qatar scored 37.1 (4.8 point drop) in a 10-year period from 2010 to 2020.
She also revealed that Bahrain’s performance was the worst in terms of illegal fishing traps.
The GDN previously reported that the Cabinet has allocated BD2.5 million in the 2021 – 2022 budget as operating cost for securing strategic stockpiles.
Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa spoke about local projects such as fish farms, poultry and egg production and also stated that the ministerial committee for infrastructure and products encourages citizens to pursue careers in the fishing industry.
However, they should have ‘sustainable licences’, and refrain from setting up illegal fishing traps around the kingdom.
The GDN also previously reported that illegal fishing traps were constantly being removed by the authorities in line with the government’s framework to regulate fishing and protect marine wealth against damage caused by harmful practices.
The Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry previously revealed that 99 fishing violations were recorded in the first six months of this year.
They included nine cases of unregistered expatriate fishermen, seven cases of nylon fishing nets, four cases of ‘Hayal’ fishing nets, 24 cases of illegal sale of shrimps and crabs, 51 trawling cases and four cases of non-compliant fishing nets.
“The main environmental challenges faced by the GCC countries are due to rapid economic development, an increased demand for energy and water – which is a scarce resource – as well as rapid urbanisation that has increased gas emissions,” added Dr Al Junaid.
“The population in the GCC has increased from 6.7 million in 1970 to around 57.4m in 2012 with a predicted increase to around 106.8m by 2033.
“The EPI addresses where the challenges are for each country and if scores drop this is an indication that environmental affairs decision-makers must tackle that specific point.
“It is important to remember that challenges can’t be solved in one single attempt as they require resources, time, budgets, and effort and community partnership.
“A strategy must be devised and policies created to reach solutions in a timely manner with indicators in place to evaluate and monitor progress.”
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