Rent trap for fishermen
by mahmood on 23/09/07 at 12:14 pm
Fishermen have been urged to stop paying a landlord who is allegedly renting out more than 75 fish traps to them illegally.
The landlord has allegedly taken over large areas of the Sitra coastal waters and is renting out sections of the sea and traps to large fishing businesses, who are in turn sub-letting to poorer village fishermen.
“We have now confirmed that the landlord lays claim to large parts of the sea,” said area MP Sayed Haidar Al Sitri and councillor Sadiq Rabea’a.
“The Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife says that he only has 25 illegal fish traps, but from daily visits to the site, we found 75.
“At first, we thought there were 200 illegal fish traps, based on what we have heard, since many have come forward saying that they were renting from the landlord.
“We have already met the commission to try to legalise these traps, but under the commission’s authority and not the landlord, who we have instructed fishermen not to pay.”
They said they would meet clergymen to ask whether the fishermen’s payments were violating Islamic principles or not.
“The sea is public property, which everyone is entitled to benefit from and whenever there are taxes or fees, it should be paid to the government and no-one else,” said Mr Rabea’a.
“The landlord is renting out those fish traps for high prices compared to the commission, which leases them for reasonable prices, affordable by everyone.”
“The fishermen say that the landlord has full control over the sea, although he has no ownership deeds.”
Mr Rabea’a accused a number of commission officials of supporting the landlord, although they should be protecting the interests of fishermen.
“We don’t know why the government is backing the rich and leaving the poor, it is simple, because the poor have no back-up. But things will change now as everyone will work to get the traps taken away,” he said.
Mr Al Sitri said that it was the same landlord who blocked off Malkiya’s beach with 10 fish traps, which led to violent clashes last month.
“This powerful landlord has no right to rent out the sea to big fishermen in the first place, because it is not his,” he said.
“Years ago, he was charging those renting out these stretches of the sea for BD25 a month, but this has increased since to thousands of dinars.
“Those big fishermen have been leasing their plots out to poor fishermen to use.
“Now, after being forced to pay huge sums to the big fishermen, due to rises in prices, they have decided to complain and demand that the fish traps be removed from the landlord and come under the government’s control.
“They say that no one has the right to set-up fish traps in the sea, without official permits, something which has not been acquired by the landlord.”
Mr Al Sitri is a member of parliament’s public utilities and environment affairs committee, which is set to visit the area today, before considering possible action.
“We are trying to solve this problem and will do whatever we can do, through any means possible,” he said.
GDN – 23 Sept, ‘07
