Bahrain: Illegal Shrimping Affects Popular Diving Attraction
Dive Bahrain today announced that illegal shrimp-trawling vessels entered the protected boundaries of the dive site causing major damage to the underwater attraction. The authorities are working to identify the vessels in question, which were in breach of Ministerial Order (205) for 2018, banning fishing using trawling nets, and the notice to mariners issued by the Ports and Maritime Affairs Authority (PMA) (177/2019) of July 8, 2019, which mandates a two nautical mile exclusion zone around the submerged attractions.
Commenting on this issue, His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Mubarak Bin Daina, Chief Executive of the Supreme Council of the Environment remarked that ‘’This incident serves as further evidence of the profoundly negative effect fishing with trawling nets has on the seabed ecosystems, reefs and on the marine environment overall.”
A Dive Bahrain spokesman confirmed that work is already underway to remedy the damage caused. Since its official opening in September 2019, Dive Bahrain has had an overwhelmingly positive response from around the world and the site continues to be a key area of focus for Team Bahrain.
