Abstract
The fisheries catches in the Eritrean Red Sea Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are presented from 1950 to 2010. Six major fisheries, different in terms of their operations, the fish they target and their market, were identified. Overall, the fisheries went through major shifts from the state of high catches dominated by small pelagic beach seining in the 1950s and 1960s (slightly under 30,000 t · year−1) to the domination by bottom trawling, prevailing since the 1990s. The catches started to decline to less than 2,500 t · year−1, a level which lasted from the mid-1970s to the first few years after independence (1991), before recovering and reaching a new peak of about 20,000 t · year−1 at the beginning of 2000s. The artisanal fisheries, which target mainly fresh fish for direct human consumption, have exhibited a relatively steady upward trend since independence. Major findings are (1) the total catch for the period from 1950 to 2010 was 2.2 times the data reported by Eritrea to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); and (2) that political events strongly impacted the fisheries of Eritrea, notably the struggle for independence.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to express our thanks to the staff of the Ministry of Fisheries of Eritrea for their cooperation and in providing access to fisheries data, reports and other documents. Heartfelt thanks also go to assistants during the field work: Ahmed, Aron, Bokeretsion and Yonathan. This research was supported by Sea Around Us , a scientific collaboration between the University of British Columbia and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Additional supported was obtained from Eritrea’s Coastal, Marine & Island Biodiversity Conservation project (ECMIB). Finally, we thank Mebrahtu Ateweberhan for reviewing the chapter.
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Tesfamichael, D., Mohamud, S. (2016). Eritrea. In: Tesfamichael, D., Pauly, D. (eds) The Red Sea Ecosystem and Fisheries. Coral Reefs of the World, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7435-2_4
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