T E C H N I C A L C O O P E R A T I O N P R O G R A M M E
A report prepared for the
Improvement of Fisheries and
Aquaculture Production
Project
based on the work of
L.C. Villegas
(Consultant)
This informal report is one of a series of reports prepared during the course of the project identified on the title page. The conclusions and recommendations given in the report are those considered appropriate at the time of its preparation. They may be modified in the light of further knowledge gained at subsequent stages of the project.
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or constitutional status of any country, territory or sea area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers.
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 1983
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This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software. FAO declines all responsibility for any discrepancies that may exist between the present document and its original printed version.
3.2 Problems Affecting the Industry
4.2 The General Establishment of Fisheries
8. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
8.4 Development of the Fisheries
Appendix 1: CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAWLERS
Appendix 2: THE GENERAL ESTABLISHMENT FOR FISHERIES
Appendix 3: LIST OF PERSONS CONTACTED
LIST OF TABLES
1. MARINE FISHERIES LANDINGS (t) DURING 1981
2. ESTIMATED NUMBER OF FISHERMEN AND FELUCCAS BY DISTRICT - 1981
The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, assisted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations through the Technical Cooperation Programme, is engaged in a project whose main purpose is to improve the national fish production generally, and in particular to increase present aquaculture production and make recommendations on fisheries management.
As part of the project operation, FAO assigned Mr L.C. Villegas as consultant in general planning, statistics and stock assessment (marine fisheries) from 4 October to 3 November 1982 with the following terms of reference:
to compile the available information on the Syrian marine fisheries;
to evaluate the quality of the present fishery statistics and describe the present system of collection (visiting ports and other landing sites);
on the basis of the above to provide a rough estimate of potential of demersal and pelagic resources of Syria if data allow;
to identify biological and socio-economic limiting factors to marine fishery development;
to identify the possible options for development of Syrian marine fisheries;
to advise on possible improvements in marine fishery statistics collection.
The Syrian Arab Republic has a total area of approximately 185 000 km2 and lies between the eastern Mediterranean and the Furat-Dijlah (Euphrates-Tigris) basin.
A series of mountains parallel to the coast define at least two distinct regions. Most of the population (80 percent) lives in the narrow coastal plain and in the very fertile Ghab valley, north of Damascus. This area is characterized by its Mediterranean climate.
Eastwards of this populated region lies a very ample area that is semi-desert near the coast and changes progressively to open steppes and deserts in its eastern part. The climate here is continental. Agricultural activities, depending on irrigation, take place in the regions closer to the coast.
The Syrian population is estimated at nearly 9 million (1980). Rural population represents 47 percent of the total. Agriculture has always been of major importance for Syrian economy. At present it provides up to 20 percent of the GDP. The industrial sector was dominated by the textile industry, but recent projects have also included the development of phosphate mining and the expansion of the manufacturing industry. This represents 20 percent of GDP. Oil is now the most important source of external revenues, but it does not cover adequately import expenditures, and Syria is affected by a penury of convertible currencies.
Syria has a coastline of 183 km with good artificial ports and continental shelves. The shelf is very narrow (8 km at its widest) and has an approximate surface of 1 160 km2. The trawling area on the shelf is about 310 km2. Grounds unsuitable for trawling, but probably exploitable with handlines, are found from the Lebanese border to Ras El Hassan and northwest of Latakia. The continental slope is very steep with some trawling grounds between 200 and 400 m and practically nil deeper than 400 m. Oren et al. (1971) estimated the surface of deep trawlable grounds (100–600 m) at 850 km2.
Syrian waters have low productivity due to the absence of upwellings or major discharges or currents which bring nutrients to the region. Consequently, landings from marine fisheries have been low (around 1 000 t in 1980) and this activity has a minor importance in the general economy of Syria.
Despite the lack of comprehensive statistics on Syrian marine fisheries there is a general impression that landings have doubled during the last twenty years. The Department of Fisheries have estimated that about 1 100 t were landed in 1981 (Table 1). Such an amount represents 23% of total fish production in Syria. Main landing centres are Latakia and the Tartous-Arwad area.
Landings are composed of several species (sea breams, mullets, horse mackerel and other carangids which are marketed together by size categories. The species most appreciated by consumers are sultan ibrahim (Mullus barbatus, M. surmuletus and Upeneus moluccensis).
Much of the fish landed is of small size, especially the demersal fish caught by trawlers. All fish under 7 cm and a great percentage under 10 cm are returned to the sea. These quantities change seasonally according to the average size of the fish caught and abundance. According to the information given by the Marine Fisheries Branch at Latakia the amount of fish disposed of is higher at the beginning of the fishing season. Captain Farina (FAO, 1957) estimated that 40 percent of the catch was thrown back due to its small size; 30–60% of the trawlers present catch is rejected for the same reasons.
There are two distinct fleets exploiting the marine resources, some 425–575 small open boats (feluccas) and 5 trawlers. Feluccas produce 30% of the landings.
Most of the feluccas are operated by their owners. Three of the trawlers are owned and operated by a state organization (the General Establishment of Fisheries - GEF) and the other two by production cooperatives.
Small-scale fishermen are not organized in cooperatives and do not adhere to any association.
Feluccas are made of wood; 5–8 m length, 1.5–2.0 m width and powered by 10–20 hp diesel engines. The average price for a felucca (hull and engine) is about £S 40 000 1 (around US$ 10 000). Feluccas are built with local wood at Latakia and Arwad Is.
Feluccas are reliable, well maintained boats distributed all along the coast where there are suitable places to beach them or in the small fishing ports of Latakia, Jeble, Baniyas, Tartous and Arwad Is. Their greatest concentration is found in the Tartous-Arwad region (Table 2) near the Lebanese border.
All trawlers are based at Latakia; the 100 t GEF trawlers are made of steel and were built in 1977 as multipurpose boats. They have 370 hp and a 5 t hydraulic trawl winch; they are well equipped with navigational and acoustic equipment, and can stay at sea for periods of up to 12 days. The other two trawlers are smaller (160–190 hp), older, and made of wood (Appendix 1).
1 Exchange: US$ 1.00 = Syrian pounds 3.90 (April 1982)
Feluccas usually operate very near the coast (up to 2 km) and near to the points where they are usually beached. Fishing trips do not last more than 12 hours.
Trawling operations started during the 1950s with small trawlers (90–130 hp). In 1955 there were 10 trawlers in operation. In 1967–68 their operations were suspended as a result of conservation measures. In 1978 the three GEF trawlers started their operations bringing the catch from 10/15 to 90 t.
Trawlers usually fish in limited areas (30 km2) off Latakia-Jeble in 40–70 m depth. Deeper waters are sometimes visited. However, sultan ibrahim abundance decreases with the increasing depth. Average trips in Syrian waters last 12–15 hours.
From 1979 GEF trawlers have fished occasionally in international waters off Iskenderun (Turkey) between 40 and 100 m in depth. Fishing trips to Turkey last 3 days and were initiated by an expert of the Japanese Technical Assistance Programme. In 1980, when a record landing of 126 t was made, 43 percent of it was caught off Turkey. Despite the fact that yields per hour there are as much as three times those obtained in Syrian waters (Table 3), the number of such operations is diminishing as the surface of good trawling area is rather small and GEF masterfishermen do not have the technical capabilities to operate safely in areas unfamiliar to them.
All trawlers use a standard Italian trawl. Codend meshes are small (18 mm stretched). Codends are protected by a bag tightly attached to them. The covering bag has 150 mm mesh size.
Feluccas use a variety of gears but those most widely employed are trammel nets and longlines. Other popular fishing gears such as gillnets and trolling lines are used seasonally. A common feature to all of them is the use of small size meshes and hooks. Trammel nets for sultan ibrahim are made of monofilament netting imported from China of 15 mm stretched mesh size. Fishing with lights (lampara nets) has diminished in recent years as sardines have become more scarce.
Feluccas operate throughout the year but their activities decrease somewhat during November-February when wind and sea conditions do not permit the operation of small boats.
Trawlers fish from September to May, as a 3-month closed season has been in vigour from the late 1960s. Another 100 days are also lost due to sea conditions; thus 170 days remain for trawling.
Small amounts of fish are landed daily. Each trawler lands 300–500 kg/day and the feluccas about 8–10 kg/day.
Landings of the GEF and cooperatives are sold directly to the public in their own shops in Latakia. Prices charged by GEF are a little lower than those at the fish market.
Landings from the feluccas are taken to the nearest fish agent who auctions the fish to merchants. The agents charge a commission to fishermen for their work but maintain no records of their transactions. The fish merchants sell the fish locally or take it else-where according to prevailing market conditions. Fish produced in the Tartous-Arwad area is sometimes exported to Lebanon.
Fish is usually sold on the day following landing. Ice is used by fish merchants only when they are transporting fish to other places.
Catches from trawlers and feluccas are very small. The approximate value for the daily landings from the feluccas is £S 200 (US$ 51) and for a trawler £S 3 500–6 000 (US$ 890–1 527). While feluccas can continue to operate with such gross returns (the average salary in Syria being £S 1 000), trawlers are steadily losing money and are able to continue to fish only with government assistance.
Despite the lack of supporting data, there is a general belief that catches of food fish by feluccas have been diminishing for several years. Small-scale fishermen argue that with the introduction of GEF trawlers in 1978, fishermen from Jeble and Baniyas have been obliged to stop using sultan ibrahim trammel nets as this fish has almost disappeared from their fishing grounds.
By comparison with the observations made by Margetts (FAO, 1968) it appears that a reduction in the landings per boat has been attempted to compensate for the diminution in mesh size. Margetts (1968) found trammel nets of 30–35 mm and trawl codends of 30 mm stretched mesh size. At present, fishermen are using 15 mm mesh for the trammels and 18 mm in the codends.
Dynamite continues to be used but in minor degrees as compared with previous years. It is generally accepted that dynamite is used by occasional fishermen.
Another problem affecting small-scale fishermen is the high price paid for fishing equipment, e.g., 1 kg of netting for sultan ibrahim trammel nets costs £S 75 (US$ 19).
Marine fish is preferred by Syrians as compared to freshwater species. Current prices paid at first sale are £S 45 (US$ 11) for fish of prime quality, e.g., sultan ibrahim of good size, and £S 4 /US$ 1) for the poorest quality. Prices for prime quality fish are nearly the same as the price for mutton/lamb, the most appreciated meat. Despite the rather high price for fish all fish landed is sold without difficulty.
In the past, demand was satisfied by domestic landings and import of cheap fish from Turkey. Some 100–110 t were imported in 1980 but at present fish imports are banned.
There is no institution in Syria giving assistance to small-scale fisheries nor is there any fishery research or monitoring of fishery activities.
There are two governmental bodies charged with matters related to marine fisheries; the Department of Fisheries and the General Establishment of Fisheries. Coordination of activities of both institutions is assured by a committee of their representatives.
It is part of the General Directorate of Ports within the Ministry of Transport. The Department was created in 1960 and is based at Latakia. Its manager, a lawyer, has been there from the start. Its field personnel consists of a port officer at each of the five fishing ports of the country who are responsible, together with other duties, for the collection of data on landings.
The functions of the Department are: to award annual licences to fishermen and fishing boats, to collect and compile landing statistics, to draft and implement fishery regulations, and control pollution.
The General Directorate of Ports has assigned 200 soldiers to surveillance duties all along the coast.
The General Establishment of Fisheries (GEF), with headquarters in Jeble, was created in 1974 as part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reform. It is generally agreed that the main responsibilities of the GEF are:
to promote the development of a fishing industry through its own production means and those of fishermen's cooperatives;
to monitor the progress of such industry;
to conduct applied research in aquaculture;
to provide extension services to fishermen;
to propose new fishing rules or changes to present regulations.
It is evident from the above that the interest of GEF in small-scale marine fisheries is marginal. In fact, GEF's main concern is fish production by its own trawlers.
In order to reach its various objectives GEF has six Directorates (Appendix 2). Each one is in the charge of a senior staffmember directly responsible to the general director. There are also six outposted branches whose basic duties are fish production; the one in Latakia is responsible for the operation of the three GEF trawlers and the commercialization of their catches.
The inter-relationships among the various Directorates are not clearly defined and the various degrees of responsibility and lines of communication between Directorates and the Branches are not well established. In addition, the apparent inability of some of their senior staffmembers to delegate duties make the GEF machinery too heavy and slow to operate.
It could reasonably be assumed that two Directorates - Planning and Statistics, and Production were concerned with marine fisheries. However, the Directorate of Planning and Statistics only compiles information from its own operations (trawlers, fish-farms and inland fishermen's cooperatives). In practice, it is the Marine Fisheries Branch (MFB) at Latakia, which is responsible for trawling operations, commercialization of catches and recording information on their activities (catch quantities and value, and effort).
The MFB has a staff of 40, 22 of whom are the crew of the trawlers (one was trained in marine fisheries in Japan). There are 4 senior staffmembers. This is a dynamic unit operating on the lines of a private fishing company.
About 7 years ago the University of Latakia inaugurated a 6-storey marine station at Latakia. Scientific equipment was donated by USAID, but this has not yet been installed. The station has not started to function due to budgetary problems and lack of specialized personnel.
It is not certain that the station can operate as some University members consider that more equipment is necessary before any research programme can be initiated.
The MFB has received technical (and material) assistance to carry out experimental fishing using bottom and midwater trawls and purse-seines from Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany and Korea.
Japan also provided the services of two masterfishermen to expand trawling operations to international waters off Turkey.
There are few regulations in Syria affecting marine fisheries. They refer to licensing of fishermen and boats, closed seasons and areas for trawlers, mesh size regulations for trawls, pollution and use of dynamite.
Except with regard to closed seasons and areas for trawlers, implementation of other fishery regulations has been rather slow due to lack of means for surveillance of the Department of Fisheries, and the lenient attitude of judges toward violators of the regulation. An example of this is the regulation on minimum size for trawl codends (2.5 mm) established some years ago, but which no trawler has ever respected.
Only the Department of Fisheries has been recording and compiling information on the number of boats and fishermen and total amounts landed from the early 1960s.
Small-scale fishermen are required by law each year to request from the Department a licence for themselves and their boats. As this regulation was not strictly enforced in the past, official statistics underestimated the number of fishermen and boats. An intensive programme of surveillance carried out during the last six months has increased by 30 percent the number of applications for licences.
Portofficers at Latakia, Jeble, Baniyas, Tartous and Arwad estimate the quantities landed through interviews with fishermen and fish agents. Lack of standard instruction about frequency and coverage of interviews, lack of checking the recorded information and lack of training of persons charged to collect and record the information makes it highly unreliable.
Landings given by the Department are not broken down by species despite the fact that fish is sold in the market by species or groups of species. There is no reliable information from other sources about species composition of the landings.
Additional information on fishing activities is collected by the MFB and the Cooperatives. The MFB has statistical records from 1978. The MFB records data on landings and number of trips of its trawlers, but it does not give species breakdown as it sells the fish by commercial categories. A category groups several species of similar size. Cooperatives record only total landings of their trawlers.
Due to the above-mentioned limitations the existing data on landings and fishing efforts are not adequate to assess the marine resources potential.
A very rough estimate of the potential could be made using the information on reported catches and shelf area of a region with characteristics similar to Syria. Data collected in Lebanon indicate that yield per unit area is about 1.6 t/km2; for Syria it is 0.9 t/km2. The higher yield per area for Lebanon suggests that Syrian potential could be around 1 800 t.
One of the reasons for the lower yield in Syria could be the state of exploitation of the demersal resource. Estimated demersal yield in Lebanon is 1.5 t/km2; in Syria it is only 0.9 t/km2.
Despite this lack of statistical data, there are some strong indications that the demersal resource off Syria is heavily overexploited. A limited length sampling exercise of the GEF trawler catches was carried out by a Japanese volunteer from October 1981 to July 1982. It shows that trawlers are catching very small fish (45–200 mm, mostly immature), and suggests that catches are mainly of one age-group. The very low yields which decrease as the fishing season advances (Table 4) support the belief that the trawlers are exploiting a fish group that was recruited to the fishery in June-August.
The overexploitation of the demersal resource off Syrian waters is also evident when yield per hour trawling is compared with the values from the fishing ground of Iskenderun (Table 3).
Captain Farina (FAO, 1957) found already in 1956 that the coastal demersal resource was overexploited.
Taking into account that at that time trawlers fishing off Syria were smaller and the codend mesh size was bigger (30 mm), it can be concluded that the present state of overexploitation is more advanced than before.
The most logical measures to increase the yields from the Syrian demersal resource could be to diminish the number of trawlers in operation and increase the size of the codend meshes. The number of trawlers will naturally be reduced if the older vessels are not replaced.
During the length sampling mentioned above measurements were taken (standard length for the most important species, sultan ibrahim and common pandora). Such data have been used to estimate the selection factor for the species and calculate the sizes where 50 percent of the fish entering the codend could escape.
Data analysed give a selection factor of 2.5 for two species of sultan ibrahim and 2.1 for common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus).
Size composition of the catches shows that passing directly from the present 18 mm mesh size codends to 40 mm mesh size will cause very important initial losses to trawlers. The introduction of 30 mm mesh size will also result in losses of fish, but they will be less important. Fish of less than 63–75 mm not marketed at present will constitute the bulk of the losses. Potential losses will be higher at the beginning of the fishing season but will gradually decrease to be minimal in April.
Another possibility to increase demersal yields could be to exploit the deep (150–600 m) trawling grounds off Syria. Despite the fact that there is a relatively large area, findings by Oren et al. (1971) indicate that poor productivity of the deeper waters will preclude obtaining commercially interesting results.
Another way to increase landings could be through the exploitation of pelagics found 2 km offshore. Feluccas only exploit pelagic species which enter coastal waters and maybe small-scale fishermen are not aware of the presence of pelagic fish outside their area of operation.
Captain Farina (1957) detected (with acoustic instruments) important schools of mackerel (Scomber collias) at some distance from the coast. Syrian fishermen did not know of their existence.
The main constraints for further fishery development are, in general: limited resources available, advanced state of exploitation of the demersal resource; lack of government support to small-scale fishing operations and reluctance of fishermen to change old habits.
Despite the fact that two governmental bodies do fisheries-related work, neither is responsible for closely monitoring and supporting fishing activities.
In order to compile the statistical information, carry out sampling of the landings, assess the state of the exploitation of the resources, propose management measures, evaluate their impact and supervise the implementation of fishery regulations, it is strongly recommended to establish a one or two man unit in the governmental structure to be responsible for these tasks.
It is recognized that the Ministry of Agriculture is the appropriate location for such a unit. At present neither the MFB at Latakia nor the GEF at Jeble have the technical expertise and means to carry out the duties expected from such a unit and, furthermore, their present objectives do not take them into account. Such a unit should be located at Latakia, the main fishing port and home base for trawlers.
In view of the duties of the Department of Fisheries with respect to those proposed for the unit, there is some potential for conflict. Problems could result from a poor definition of the work to be done by the unit, or by ignoring some legal or administrative implications derived from its creation.
Therefore, it is recommended to request the services of an institution specialist to study the problems (intra-and inter-institutional, budgetary) relative to the establishment of such a unit and propose any necessary change.
At least the person to be in charge of the unit needs to be trained in stock assessment and fishery management. When the time comes it will be necessary to request international assistance for such training.
Trawlers and feluccas are exploiting practically the same demersal resource but the available statistical information is inadequate to assess the impact of one type of fishery over the other or to evaluate the state of exploitation of the pelagic and demersal resources.
Information on quantities caught and fishing effort (boats, fishermen, hours fishing) spent to obtain the catches is necessary to determine if the level of fishing activities is affecting the resource and to what extent. At present, information on total landings and number of boats and fishermen is being collected. The degree of reliability of landing data is unknown. Despite the valuable efforts made by the Department of Fisheries (in view of its limited expertise), lack of clear and easily understandable instructions on what to record, when and how, has resulted in the present confusion.
In order to improve the quality of the statistical information to be collected, it is strongly recommended to seek the services of a statistician to advise the Department of Fisheries on this matter and train its personnel.
Due to the particular characteristics of the marine waters off Syria - low productivity and a narrow shelf - the potential of the marine resource is limited and it cannot be expected that local production will ever cover the demand.
Despite the lack of adequate information to assess the marine resource potential, there are some signs such as the small size of demersal fish landed and decline of the low catch per unit of effort for trawlers as the seasons advance, which strongly suggest that the demersal resource is highly overexploited. However, it is probable that the resource has not completely collapsed since a great part of the shelf is not fished by trawlers.
It appears that the GEF trawlers are being introduced into a demersal fishery already overexploited through the activities of feluccas and small trawlers. The arrival in 1978 of modern and more powerful trawlers operating the same fishing grounds could only accelerate the decline of a limited resource, despite a three-month closed season.
It is evident that the demersal resource is not giving its maximum potential yield as the fish have no opportunity of growing to a size that permits them to reproduce at least once. The present number of trawlers in operation (5) is excessive for a small demersal resource. Annual landings have fluctuated around 110–130 t, about 10 percent of the amount landed by feluccas.
The same amount of fish could be caught with only one trawler operating. Due to the limited resource available in Syrian waters and the state of exploitation, it is not expected that the trawler catches from this region can be increased. On the contrary, their uncontrolled activities in the Latakia-Jeble region will contribute to the further decline of the demersal resource.
In view of the limited productivity of the Syrian waters and neighbouring countries, modest increases of landings could be obtained through:
fisheries management
fishing a wider area
Management measures which could be enforced to obtain the best possible yields of the resources include:
(a) Measures affecting trawlers
(i) Gear regulations
Trawlers reject 30–60 percent of their catches as the fish are too small to be marketed. Dead fish thrown back into the water benefit neither fisherman nor consumer. Energetic action must be taken by the Government to diminish this great loss. It is recommended that regulations are enacted and implemented to increase the present minimum mesh size of codends from their present 18 mm to 40 mm, and to forbid the use of a full codend cover.
Both measures will permit the increase of the escape of small fish from codends, but they will initially result in catch losses. Such losses will be heavier at the beginning of the fishing season but will be compensated later by the higher abundance of bigger fish.
This disadvantage must be weighted against the possibility of progressive paralysis of the trawling activities in the future as catches in Syrian waters will become so reduced that cooperatives and GEF will not be able to support any more losses.
(ii) Boat licences
One or two trawlers are sufficient to obtain the modest landings that can be expected from such activity in Syrian waters. No licences additional to those awarded in 1982 must be given for trawlers. This, together with the prohibition to replace old trawlers, will reduce the effort to a more “manageable” size.
(b) Measures affecting feluccas
(i) Gear regulations
Some trammel and gill nets use 15 mm stretched mesh size to catch semi-pelagic species (such as sultan ibrahim). In order to obtain maximum benefits of increasing codend mesh size and not to lose them by catching small fish with another small meshed net, it will be necessary to increase the mesh size for trammel and gill nets to the same mesh size proposed for trawlers.
Here again, there will be initial losses, but they will be less severe for trawlers than for the feluccas, since the trawlers land smaller fish.
(ii) Boat licences
Despite the fact that the number of feluccas has not changed in the last fifteen years, it can be expected that the decrease in the number of trawlers and increases in their mesh sizes will make felucca fishing more attractive than at present and the number of applications for licences could increase.
This situation should be avoided and the number of licences should be higher than those granted in 1982.
Therefore, it is recommended:
to freeze at the 1982 level the number of licences to be given to trawlers and feluccas;
to progressively increase mesh sizes up to 40 mm (stretched mesh) for trawl codends, trammel and gill nets and in addition, to forbid the import of netting less than 40 mm mesh size;
to forbid the use of any type of cover to protect trawl codends.
The fishermen need convincing that such measures are required: that they must implement the measures and carry out the surveillance of fishing activities to ensure that the fishery regulations are observed and to collect and analyse the results of the measures and propose any changes needed.
The introduction of changes in mesh size will certainly cause a strong reaction from fishermen as it will initially diminish the profitability of their operations. It is necessary to remember that the most appreciated species is sultan ibrahim and catches of even small specimens can give a good return.
An educational programme for fishermen and consumers showing the dangers resulting from the excessive exploitation of juveniles could be established to help fishermen understand and accept the proposed management measures.
Changes in mesh size must be introduced progressively in order to give time to assess the effects of the proposed changes. In the first stage, minimum mesh sizes could be fixed at 30 mm. After a period of, say, 2–3 years, when some positive results have been recorded, the mesh size could be increased to 40 mm or other size that proves more beneficial for the resource and the fishery.
It is known that the surveillance of the implementation of fishery regulations is not very strict. It is also known that judges do not impose heavy penalties to transgressors of such regulations in the belief that violations of fishery regulations are minor offences.
Management measures will achieve their objectives only if the Department of Fisheries increases its degree of surveillance of fishing activities and the Ministry of Justice takes a firmer position with respect to violators of fishery regulations.
In order to eliminate the possibility that neighbouring countries sharing the same resource could take advantage of the benefits to be derived from the management measures, the Government of Syria must ensure that the same mesh size is in application in all countries concerned. It should be pointed out that the lack of agreement on this matter cannot prevent Syria implementing the recommended mesh size.
(iii) Additional fishing
Some increases of landings can be obtained also through the expansion of fishing activities such as:
(a) Intensification of GEF trawling operations in international waters off Turkey and Lebanon
In 1981, GEF trawlers made a record landing of 126 t. Nearly 43 percent of it was caught in a small area off Iskenderun (Turkey) between 50 and 100 m. Catches per hour off Turkey are nearly 3 times higher than those from Syrian waters. Captain Farina (FAO, 1956) did some exploratory fishing in grounds situated south of Arwad Is. and Tripoli between 80 and 100 fath (128–183 m) and obtained good results.
In addition to the Iskenderun grounds there are more trawling grounds to the west outside Turkish jurisdiction. Such grounds are inside the reach of GEF trawlers (10–11 h of navigation).
Exploitation of Iskenderun grounds was initiated and continued during the assignments in Syria of masterfisherman seconded by the Japanese Technical Assistance. Now that this assistance has ended it is difficult to continue such operations. Despite the goodwill and hard-working habits of GEF masterfishermen, their limited technical expertise on the use of positioning instruments and acoustic equipment prevents them taking full advantage of opportunities to increase landings from unknown grounds.
The above-mentioned reason explains their willingness to continue to operate on the same grounds where they have been fishing for years. It is less risky and costly than trying to guess about the nature of new grounds.
The limited potential of the demersal resource makes it imperative to continue shifting the fishing grounds to maintain acceptable yields and to exploit new areas or those at present visited only occasionally. Such fishing tactics cannot be followed with the GEF masterfishermen.
The GEF is trying to obtain the services of a UN volunteer to help the masterfishermen as the Japanese did. While not disagreeing with the principle of obtaining foreign assistance, this action will not solve the problems of the masterfishermen's limited expertise.
One approach to solve this problem could be to train a young Syrian to become a masterfisherman of one of the GEF trawlers; depending on his qualifications this could be a lengthy matter but a good solution. In the meantime, assistance could be requested to help masterfishermen currently operating on new grounds.
It is recommended to request the services of an internationally-recruited masterfisherman for a 3-month period to chart trawling grounds existing south of Arwad Is. and in international waters off Lebanon and Turkey, and train the GEF masterfishermen to fish there.
It is recommended to identify a suitable young man to be trained to become a masterfisherman of one of the GEF trawlers; and assistance for his training abroad should be sought.
If Turkey and Lebanon ever decide to extend their respective economic zones there will be no more international fishing grounds available for Syrian trawlers. If any Government intends to continue to operate the GEF trawlers it is advisable to initiate talks to secure fishing rights in both countries.
(b) Increased exploitation by feluccas of medium and large pelagics occasionally fished at present
Despite the fact that more pelagic species are seen at the markets than before, operation tactics of feluccas very near the coast and without using any navigational or acoustic equipment implies that pelagic fish offshore are not exploited by Syrian fishermen.
An exploratory and experimental fishing programme should be carried out to assess the potential catches of pelagic fish and to determine the fishing gears best suited for fishing them. In addition, good results from the programme could awaken the interest of fishermen in this type of fishing. In order to obtain comparable results, such a programme must employ feluccas and gears used by small-scale fishermen. A mobile unit composed of a masterfisherman and fishing gears, with sufficient money to rent feluccas and crew, could carry out the programme in a 4-month period between March and October when sea conditions are best.
It is recommended to request technical and financial assistance to carry out a short programme of exploratory fishing using feluccas and gear appropriate for small-scale fishing operations.
GEF trawlers have been increasingly losing money despite the managerial efforts of the MFB. They have lost nearly S£ 1 000 000 (US$ 256 000) since they started operating. Some of the reasons for the losses are:
there are too many trawlers for the demersal resource available
trawlers have been fishing most of the time on the same ground around 50 m depth in the Latakia-Jeble area
fishing time has been lost due to mechanical failures.
As none of the engineers working in the GEF trawlers has any training they cannot prevent such failures and even less carry out repairs. A more efficient operation of the boats necessarily demands better maintenance and with untrained engineers this is practically impossible. Therefore, it is recommended to request the services of a boat engineer for 3 months to give practical training to GEF trawler engineers on engine repairs and maintenance.
The programme of industrial development followed by Syria and the growth of urban areas has multiplied the opportunities for pollution of marine waters. In spite of the lack of studies on the problem, the presence of important industrial activities in the Baniyas-Tartous area and a big urban concentration in Latakia support the idea of increasing levels of pollution. If pollution is not assessed on time and routine monitoring promptly started the uncontrolled growth could affect negatively the marine resource and also the growth of the fishing industry.
It is recommended to request the services of a specialist in pollution (1 month) to assess its status and prepare guidelines to control it.
The Government of Syria will need foreign assistance to implement some recommendations of the report. Assistance will be required in the form of expert services, training abroad of a masterfisherman and the person to be in charge of the proposed fishery unit, and funds for the programme in support of small-scale fisheries.
Summarizing, the following technical assistance will be required:
INSTITUTION SPECIALIST Duration: 1 month
Qualifications: The incumbent will have a wide experience in the type of work carried out by fisheries services. He will also have the ability to understand and draft legal texts.
Duties: He will define the objectives of the proposed fishery unit and will prepare a general description of the functions of the unit staff. He will estimate the costs of operation of the unit. He will study the legal texts governing the Department of Fisheries and the General Establishment of Fisheries, their organization and their programme of work to identify potential conflict areas related to the establishment of a fishery unit. He will also determine the most adequate place for the unit in the government administrative structure and he will advise the government about the necessary administrative and legal changes to be made to have the unit fully operational.
STATISTICIAN (MARINE WATERS) Duration: 6 months
Qualifications: The incumbent will have ample experience in the design of programmes for the collection of fishery data. He will also have experience in training of field personnel responsible for the collection and compilation of fishery statistics.
Duties: He will conduct a census of marine sites, fishermen and boats of the Syrian coast taking into account the peculiarities of the country, and he will design a workable programme for data collection from the fishery for economic and stock assessment studies. He will train the personnel of the Department of Fisheries in the collection and compilation of fisheries statistics. He will initiate and supervise the implementation of the statistical programme.
MASTERFISHERMAN (TRAWLING) Duration: 3 months
Qualification: The incumbent will have a wide experience in trawling, especially in the Mediterranean. He will have a working knowledge of Arabic.
Duties: He will explore and prepare a chart of trawling grounds existing between Arwad Is. and the international waters off Lebanon and in the international waters west of Iskenderun (Turkey). He will train GEF masterfishermen to fish in these grounds.
MASTERFISHERMAN (SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES) Duration: 4 months
Qualifications: The incumbent will have extensive practical knowledge of fishing gears in small-scale fisheries. He will also have experience of fishing offshore pelagics. He will have a working knowledge of Arabic.
Duties: He will carry out a programme of exploratory and experimental fishing outside the areas visited by small-scale fishermen and he will try to operate fishing gears suitable for feluccas.
BOAT ENGINEER Duration: 3 months
Qualifications: The incumbent will have experience in the maintenance and repair of diesel engines and other mechanic or hydraulic equipment existing onboard coastal trawlers. He will have a working knowledge of Arabic.
Duties: He will train on-the-job GEF boat engineers in the maintenance and repair of the trawlers equipment. He will prepare a maintenance schedule.
POLLUTION SPECIALIST Duration: 1 month
Qualifications: The incumbent will have ample experience in the preparation and execution of pollution control programmes.
Duties: He will assess the present level of pollution in the Syrian coast. He will advise the Government regarding maximum permissible level of pollution. He will establish guidelines to fight and control pollution. He will establish in conjunction with the University of Latakia a small research programme to monitor the pollution.
Fellowships will be needed for:
training in stock assessment and management for a period of six months
training of a young Syrian to be one of the masterfishermen of the GEF trawlers. The duration of his training will depend on his qualifications. It is advisable that training takes place in one of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
FAO. 1956 Report to the Government of Syria on the Marine Fisheries. Based on the work of W.C. Beckman and L.F. Farina. Rep.FAO/ETAP, (516):28 p.
FAO. 1957 Report to the Government of Syria on Marine Fisheries. Based on the work of L.F. Farina. FAO masterfisherman. Rep.FAO/ETAP, (691):34 p.
FAO. 1968 Report to the Government of Syrian Arab Republic on the development of the research programme on marine fishery biology. Based on the work of A.R. Margetts, fishery biologist. Rep.FAO/UNDP (TA), (2464):39 p.
Hutchens, L. Syria: 1980 Agricultural Sector Assessment, Vol 2. Natural resources Annex. Chapter V. Fisheries resources. US Dept. of Agric./USAID/State Planning Commission, SAR, 15 p.
Oren, O.H., M. Ben-Yami and L. Zisman. 1971 Exploration of the possible deep-water trawling grounds in the Levant Basin. Stud.Rev.Gen.Fish.Counc.Mediterranean, (49): 41–71
| District | Feluccas1 | Trawlers | Total1 | |
| GEF2 | Others1 | |||
| Latakia | 563 | 90 | 27 | 680 |
| Jeble | 91 | 91 | ||
| Baniyas | 89 | 89 | ||
| Tartous | 189 | 189 | ||
| Arwad | 104 | 104 | ||
| Total | 1 035 | 90 | 27 | 1 153 |
Sources: 1 Department of Fisheries, Directorate of Ports
2 Marine Fisheries Branch, General Establishment of Fisheries
| District | Fishermen | Feluccas | Total | |
| Licensed | Estimated Unlicensed | |||
| Latakia | 500 | 150 | 45 | 195 |
| Jeble | 200 | 60 | 20 | 80 |
| Baniyas | 200 | 40 | 10 | 50 |
| Tartous | 300 | 25 | 30 | 55 |
| Arwad | 500 | 150 | 45 | 195 |
| Total | 1 700 | (425) | 575 | |
Source: Department of Fisheries, Directorate of Ports
| Year | Syrian waters | kg/h | International waters | kg/h | ||
| Landings (t) | Hours fishing | Landings (t) | Hours fishing | |||
| 1978 | 102.1 | 5 060 | 20 | |||
| 1979 | 98.2 | 5 060 | 19 | 9.6 | 384 | 25 |
| 1980 | 71.1 | 4 250 | 17 | 54.7 | 876 | 62 |
| 1981 | 73.1 | 3 960 | 18 | 17.3 | 336 | 51 |
| Month | 1979 | kg/h | 1980 | kg/h | 1981 | kg/h | |||
| Landings (t) | Hours fishing | Landings (t) | Hours fishing | Landings (t) | Hours fishing | ||||
| 1 | 12.5 | 450 | 28 | 8.6 | 600 | 14 | 7.7 | 590 | 13 |
| 2 | 9.6 | 540 | 18 | 7.0 | 560 | 12 | 7.1 | 580 | 12 |
| 3 | 10.2 | 570 | 18 | 7.4 | 580 | 13 | 13.4 | 670 | 20 |
| 4 | 8.2 | 550 | 15 | 4.8 | 610 | 8 | 8.6 | 670 | 13 |
| 5 | 4.2 | 340 | 12 | 1.0 | 120 | 8 | 3.6 | 330 | 11 |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 9 | 17.4 | 480 | 36 | 28.2 | 750 | 38 | 13.6 | 260 | 52 |
| 10 | 16.1 | 790 | 20 | 5.4 | 410 | 13 | 0 | ||
| 11 | 10.9 | 700 | 16 | 8.1 | 430 | 18 | 8.9 | 400 | 22 |
| 12 | 12.0 | 640 | 19 | 2.3 | 190 | 12 | 6.7 | 460 | 14 |
| Cooperative | |||
| GEF | Fishermen | Port workers | |
| Length (m) | 22 | 18 | 18 |
| Material | Steel | Wood | Wood |
| Displacement (t) | 100 | ||
| hp | 370 | 190 | 160 |
| Autonomy (days) | 12 | ||
| Refrigerated | |||
| Fish hold (m3) | 30 | No | No |
| Year | 1977 | 1967 | |
| Responsible for: | - Transport | - Production | - Administrative Support |
| - Development Planning | - Extension | - Legal Services | |
| - Feasibility Studies | |||
| - Training | |||
| - Statistics |
| Branches: |  | Damascus | Slims |
| Functions: |
Mr Abd al-Hakim Abbas, Chief of Cabinet in charge of General Establishment of Fisheries (GEF), Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reform (MALR), Damascus
Mr Mohamed Sulaiman Karbouj, Foreign Relations Officer, MALR, Damascus
Dr Sulieman Youssef, General Director, GEF, Jeble
Mr Kamel Barakat, Aquaculturist, GEF, Jeble
Mr Abhderraman Hakim, Manager, Marine Fisheries Branch (MFB), GEF, Latakia (Telephone 23904)
Mr Fouad Bichara, Chief of Production, MFB, GEF, Latakia
Mr Mohamed Amin Turk, Manager, Department of Fisheries, General Directorate of Ports, Latakia
Ass. Prof. T.T. George, Aquaculture Consultant, Arab Organization for Agricultural Development
| 4–8.10.1982 | Briefing in Rome | |
| 9.10.1982 | Departure from Rome | |
| 9–12.10.1982 | Damascus | |
| 12.10.1982 | Jeble | |
| 12–24.10.1982 | Latakia and the coastal region | |
| 24–26.10.82 | Damascus | |
| 26.10.1982 | Arrival in Rome | |
| 27.10.1982–3.11.1982 | Preparation of the Report |
