Despite the recent decrease in total catch compared with 10 years ago, fish exports have increased constantly; this

increase seems to occur at the expense of local consumption and has caused significant increases in fish prices in local markets [44]. Artisanal fishing accounts for well over 90% of the total production [27]. The key fisheries resources, shown in Table 1, include pelagic fishery for tuna and tuna-like species and demersal fishery for fish, cuttlefish, shrimp, and lobster. Tuna and tuna-like species and cuttlefish are prevalent in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, whereas demersal fish are more abundant in the Red Sea. Key pelagic species include yellowfin tuna, longtail tuna, little tuna, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, Indian mackerel, anchovy, and sharks; key demersal fish species include emperors, groupers, snappers, and jacks [27] and [32]. Despite selleck products the lack of comprehensive EPZ5676 in vitro stock assessment studies and reliable catch statistics, it is believed that most fish stocks, except small pelagic species for which there is no market demand, are either fully exploited or overexploited [37]; interviews with fishermen and

different stakeholders confirm these beliefs. Cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) has been harvested since 1967 by industrial fleets in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea region. The intensive trawling on their spawning aggregations has led to overfishing and a major decline of the fishery by 1982–1983 with reported annual landings falling from around 9000 to 1500 t. Landings of the rock lobster (Panulirus homarus) virtually collapsed to near zero in the late 1990s from peaks of around 400 t in the early part of the decade. This collapse was attributed to the widespread use of nets rather than traps to capture lobsters [37]. Large-scale harvest of sea cucumbers started in 2003 with the advent of air compressors, which facilitated diving; this process

led, a few years later, to the collapse of the fishery [45]. Many important demersal fish stocks and some pelagic species, such as Indian Inositol monophosphatase 1 mackerel [41], narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, and sharks [40] and [46], have experienced severe overfishing and their production levels have been beyond the maximum sustainable yields. The lack of FMPs, widespread IUU fishing, uncontrolled growth of fishing effort, and weak compliance and enforcement arrangements have led to significant economic losses associated with the suboptimal use of the resources, which has in turn resulted from weak and ineffective governance and subsequent overfishing. Small-scale fishermen typically use two types of fishing boats: small fiberglass boats called huris, 7–16 m long, with outboard engines and 2–6 crew members, and larger wooden boats called sambuks, 10–20 m long, with inboard or outboard engines and with a crew from 10 up to 25 or more [4] and [27]. Huris were traditionally used for single day trips in inshore waters, within 40 km of the shore [4].