 Yemen’s waters are rich with more than 450 kinds of fish and marine life. |
The project is part of the third five-year plan for 2006-2010, which allocated $120 million to this key sector. The fishing management project is government-supported, and will be launched early this year, at a total cost of $35 million in government funds, said Minister of Fisheries Wealth, Ibrahim Saghari. The aim of the project is to develop infrastructures for the fishing sector in the country, and to organize fishing operations as well as improve the quality of fishing products, he said.
According to the executive program for the project, the seaports in Hodeidah, al-Khobah, and Nashton in the al-Maharh governorate would be rehabilitated, Saghari said. “The ministry has received 31 requests from international companies from America, Britain, France, and Germany and Egypt to enter in bids for rehabilitating these seaports,” Saghari said. He considered the project to be a key resource to boost the national economy. The project includes setting up an information center that links the ministry with all fisheries facilitated via a database, with statistics to help evaluate the performance of fishing activities in the country, he said.
The FAO food and agricultural organization has agreed to fund the center, said Saghari. “The work in establishing the center will start next February,” he said. The project also includes wave breakers, and areas for selling fish in coastal cities, as well as an extension for current fishing seaports, as well as aquaculture projects in the country. The project would support activities of the fishing associations and improve the role of marine monitoring. Much money has already been funneled into Yemen’s fishing sector. In 2005, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved an amount of $25 million to fund the project.
Source: Yemen Observer