Undersized fish: Several traders fined

The Dubai Municipality has fined several people trading in fish after inspectors netted nearly a tonne of undersized fishes, the capture and sale of which has been prohibited from markets in Dubai. The seizure of young fishes of species like sherry, hammour, kingfish, cole, pomfret and gish came in the first month of a year-long drive to protect the dwindling population of 14 popular fish species. The Food Control Department of the Dubai Municipality had tied up with the Ministry of Environment and Water, which had banned the fishing and trading of these popular species in 2010, to launch the campaign in March. The Director of the Department, Khalid Sherif Mohammed Al Awadhi, on Monday said in a press statement that the first month of the campaign saw the Municipality confiscating 890kg of small fish. He said this amounted to 0.03 per cent of the 300,000kg of totally traded fish in the markets during the inspection period. “Around 186kg was seized on the first day, but it reduced to 9kg after 15 days of the campaign, which shows the success of the campaign, aimed to prevent selling and marketing of 14 types of undersized fishes.” Fishes like sherry, hamour and kingfish are extremely popular in the UAE. Authorities say that hamour has to be of minimum 45cm length to be sold in the local market. Similarly, kingfish, pomfret and sherry need to be of 40cm, 25cm and 22cm in length. The fines against the violators ranged from Dh1,000 to Dh3,000 on repeated violations, Adnan Ali Ahmed Al Jallaf, who heads the Animal Products Control Section, told Khaleej Times. Al Awadhi said penalties were imposed on violators and warned of huge fines. However, his statement did not mention how many traders or outlets where fined or how much was the amount of fine imposed on them. The statement highlighted that all fishermen and merchants in the emirate were made aware of the ban on the fishing and trading of premature, undersized fish before the launch of the campaign, which also targeted fish markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets and hotels.