NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

the community, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water in Saudi

Arabia has taken positive steps to halt the decline in the catches

of Nagil , Hamoor, and other reef groupers.

Saudi fisherman, Ahmed al Bahna, spoke with Red Sea diver, underwater

photographer and conservationist Hagen Schmid, about the new legislation

aimed at protecting both the fish and fishermen’s livelihoods.

Following a recent fishing excursion when Ahmed landed only low-value

parrot-fish, Ahmed recalled happier days when it was quite normal

to return after a morning’s fishing with ten to fifteen good-sized

hamour in his cool-box. During recent years however the catch

has declined steadily and Ahmed and his colleagues have been sailing

further and further offshore in order to catch anything at all.

This decline in grouper stocks has caused considerable dismay

among Saudi fishermen such as Ahmed al Bahna.

In Ahmed’s eyes the increased pressure on groupers has not come

primarily from commercial fishermen who have not altered their

methods nor increased their numbers to any marked extent in recent

years, but from pleasure fishermen who have greatly increased

their activities and have modern and efficient methods for catching

fish. Many of these pleasure fishing boats are faster and more

efficient that those of commercial fishermen like Ahmed. They

are able to reach offshore reefs in rapid time and to fish them

efficiently with hook and line as well by spearfishing. Not surprisingly,

Ahmed and his colleagues are unhappy about this competition which

in his view at least is responsible for a decline in fish-stocks.

Aware of this problem, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Agriculture

and Water has been closely monitoring catches of coral-reef groupers.

Since these fish have well defined breeding seasons the Ministry

has decided to place a complete ban on fishing them for two months

in April and May, during the period when they aggregate to spawn

and when vast numbers have previously been caught.

As of June 1994 the fenced Mahazat As Sayd reserve, north of Taif,

remains the only reintroduction site for the Arabian oryx in Saudi

Arabia. In 1993 the free-ranging population of oryx in Mahazat

grew from 62 to 113 animals. Thirty one calves were born in the

“wild” and 16 new animals were released into the reserve. Mortality

rates of free-ranging adults and calves are less than 10%; 1993

is the first year in which natural reproductive recruitment has

accounted for the majority increase in the free-ranging population

since the initial release of captive-bred oryx from San Diego

and Jordan in 1990.

The houbara bustard reintroduction programme in Saudi Arabia has

focused on the Mahazat As Sayd reserve in 1992,1993 and 1994.

By mid 1994 there was a total of 17 radio-tagged houbara free-ranging

within the reserve, including one bird that was released in 1992.

In May 1994 the first group of houbara chicks from the 1993/94

captive breeding season at the NWRC, Taif, was translocated to

Mahazat. During 1994, between 40 and 50 sub-adult (3-5 months

old) houbara will be placed into a predator-proof, 400 ha pre-release

enclosure, from which they will be free to free fly and enter

the wider reserve.