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Fisheries, the oldest profession in the sultanate, has quite a few issues to tackle before it can turn into a sunshine sector in the new world, reports Letha Jose

While the bestselling series FISH! has made Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market synonymous with successful management practices, the sultanate, despite being blessed with an abundant resource of fish, is yet to develop a strategy that makes a success story of it. From being the mainstay of a subsistence economy till the 1970s to one of the largest foreign exchange earners in the non-oil category, fisheries looks good on paper. Yet, if you get down to the real market, the fish business does not smell that good. The contribution of the second largest foreign exchange earner to the country's GDP is just 0.6 per cent.

But now, there seems to be a breath of fresh air sweeping the sector. A new ministry dedicated to the sector, move by fish exporters to form an association, the ministry's plan to establish a centralised fish market as also organise fishermen into a fish producers association, a fish resource survey after a gap of 17 years, talks about regulating the unorganised exports to the neighbouring countries that doesn't bring money into the state exchequer – it definitely looks as if fish is turning into serious business.

Exporters' woes

Currently, around 30 Omani companies are operating in the fisheries and seafood export sector, catering to 60 countries. Revenue from fish export has risen from RO37.2mn in 2000 to RO58.6mn in 2005. Though the export revenue figures for 2006 are not available, figures on the total value of the landings from the Ministry of Fisheries (MoF) are not too encouraging. The estimated total value of fish landings in 2006 had declined to RO72.5mn from 151,908 tonnes of fish compared to RO83.86mn from 157,322 tonnes in 2005.

However, the industry is upbeat about the formation of MoF in September, which, they hope, will streamline the whole sector. Said Al Rawahi, deputy general manager, Oman Fisheries, and Salim David, head of operations, Dhofar Fisheries, say formation of the ministry will give focus to the sector which has the potential to be a key industry. Rawahi is forthright. "Right now we face several problems, one of which is the skewed fisheries marketing chain. Almost 60 per cent of the fish is exported to the UAE without any value addition, from where it is re-exported. Essentially this means revenue from Oman's resource goes elsewhere. There are times when factories here don’t get enough fish."

David, however, weighs his words carefully. "With a new ministry dedicated to fisheries we feel there will be a focus on supporting the front-end markets and more efficient fishing to ensure that the scarce raw material is optimally utilised. There is a need to increase fishing to make sure that catch is available to the exporting companies."

Dr Hamed Said al Oufi, Undersecretary, MoF, admits that currently most of the factories are not working to full capacity, many of them utilising only 50 per cent of installed capacity. Dawood Sulaiman al Wahaibi, proprietor of Capital Marine, however, insists that it is wrong to say that exporters in the country suffer because fish is taken to the UAE. He says those exported the UAE are not the ones sourced by him and others who export to the EU. "Moreover, the factories in Oman have a combined capacity of about 400,000 tonnes of fish per day, which is way below the quantity of landings. Fish being a perishable item, there is no other option but to cart them to markets as fast as possible." He, however, says there are other issues which the exporters have to handle and now they are planning to form an association for collective bargaining power. They already have a co-ordination committee to thrash out issues.

Most of the bigger players source fish from a variety of sources. They operate their own vessels, contract trawlers and also buy from fishermen. Says David, "We deal with fishermen who are aware of the standards and procedures to be followed for fishing and storage. In case the quality is not as per our standards, we do not accept the goods at the factory." The new entrant in the field, AlMarsa Fisheries, has gone one step ahead. General manager Bernard Durin says they tag all the catch bought from the fishermen and ensure that the fish, even after it is processed and exported, can be tracked back to individual fishermen, who could be blacklisted in case of a problem. Says Durin, "Export companies that want good quality fish provide fishermen with iceboxes and ice. Even then the size of the boats is a limiting factor. You can provide them an ice box that fits into the boat but that limits the size of the fish you get."

That is something Oman Fisheries is working on. "We have come up with a joint ownership proposal where the company buys big boats and share ownership with the fishermen. The catch can be divided on a 50-50 basis between the company and the fishermen after deducting the cost of fuel and fishing gear." The proposal, he says, is still in the draft stage, but is confident that this is a feasible option both economically and socially, as the company is also looking at insurance cover and retirement benefits for partner fishermen.

Unorganised exports

The semi-organised large-scale export of fish to the UAE, more specifically Dubai, seems to be a sore point. According to FAO statistics, Omani fish provide at least 60 per cent of the supply to the central Dubai market. Micheal Claereboudt, associate professor, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences (CAMS), Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), reiterates Rawahi's concern. "We export whole fish and Dubai processes it and re-exports it. So the money from Oman's fish goes elsewhere."

Most of the small fish factories in the sultanate work like middlemen, dealing with the fishermen at the landing sites and carting the catch to the UAE on refrigerated trucks within hours. However, they are vulnerable to a certain element of exploitation as once they cross the Omani border with their fish, as per laws they cannot bring it back. "Most of the time they work on razor-thin margins, sometimes not even recovering their expenses. Yet they prefer to take it there as, on face value, the prices in Dubai are higher," says Rawahi.

Dr Saud al Jufaili, assistant dean for undergraduate studies, CAMS, SQU, says another factor that stands against them is the fact that by the time they reach the other Gulf markets by road, the quality would have deteriorated, ultimately fetching them lower prices. Agrees Durin, "They will get a better price if they process the fish in Oman itself." The ministry seems to be aware of these issues and is putting in place a plan to set up a centralised market and make trading compulsory before fish is taken out of the country. This, many in the industry hope, will make the markets here more organised, bring in value addition locally and, in turn, generate more revenue.

Sustainability factor

Another concern is the fear of exhausting the resources, renewable as they may be. "Instead of increasing the number of fishermen and landings, we have to better manage our catch. Fishermen must be educated about the potential of some of the fish they discard as by-catch in the export market. This will help ease pressure on just three or four species like tuna, groupers, king fish, queen fish and sardine," says Dr Jufaili. According to him, sea urchin, sea cucumber, cuttle fish, parrot fish, lizard fish and all the flat fish have tremendous export potential which remains untapped.

MoF has signed a RO2.635mn deal with Bruce Shallard and Associates, a New Zealand-based strategic fisheries management consortium, to provide a database of the fish mass in Omani waters. While this survey is the fourth of its kind to be conducted in the sultanate, the last was conducted 17 years ago. The survey will not only provide status of the various stocks, it will also help address a lot of related issues.

Dr Anesh Govender, associate professor, CAMS, SQU, admits it is difficult to make fishermen understand that they need to leave enough parent stock in the sea to fish sustainably. "They feel that tuna and king fish are migratory, so if they don't catch them, fishermen in the neighbouring country will. There has to be some regional management." Dr Govender, who is a specialist on king fish, says Oman is down to 16 per cent of the parent stock, which is way below the 40 per cent limit. "We have submitted a research paper with our suggestions to the ministry. Most probably there is going to be a closed season for king fish from next year."

Dr Govender and Claereboudt say laws that specify that young fish must be left in the wild to grow must be enforced strictly. One of the simplest ways by which that can be ensured is to make making it mandatory use of fishing nets with bigger mesh that enables the small ones to swim through while the bigger ones remain trapped.

Future plans

MoF figures show that the traditional sector, characterised by very small production units and its dependence on family labour, provides almost 85 per cent of total fish landing from almost 14,000 vessels. As the new ministry is initiating plans to form fishermen's cooperatives and persuade them to go in for fewer but much bigger vessels, there are plans to increase the number of fishing harbours, now 16. Some land at the harbour sites has already been allocated for private-sector activities, including the establishment of ice plants, cold stores, fish freezing, processing and packaging facilities, workshops, fishing gear supply stores, fuel depots and other facilities necessary for the development of the sector.

For Oman to optimise its fish exports, apart from streamlining the marketing scene, an ambitious capital investment needs to be directed towards the fisheries sector, say the fish exporters. One of the main challenges, even at the exporters’ level, is the need to enhance fishermen's ability to increase and maintain the quality of landings.

Fishermen have to be educated on the need to adopt best practices right from the way they catch fish. “Many fishermen think a few boxes of ice flakes are enough to bring back best quality fish. To meet international standards, we have to meet quality control on elements such as fish colour, freshness, taste, flavour, texture and storage life,” says Amaresh S, production manager, AlMarsa Fisheries. While Amaresh talks about quality, Durin points out that if the industry has to make more money, it has to go into value added products. "Economically also, exporting processed fish makes sense. There's no point paying freight charges for 1.5kg (1kg whole fish and 500gm ice) when a customer in the EU wants only 300gm of fillet from that.

Claereboudt insists quality control and value addition will ensure more revenue from fish. "Even if we export good quality whole fish you make money. Quality control is the key." One of the sources who did not want to be named pointed out that there are certain price sensitive markets to which other countries export to. "While exporters here insist on best fish as most of us export to quality-sensitive markets in the EU, US and the Far East, it is time that we explored the price sensitive markets. Dubai companies do that and so fishermen from Oman find a ready market for all their fish there."

But it's Durin who hits the nail. "Twenty years ago a woman spent around two hours in the kitchen, now she would be spending about 20-30 minutes. With such time constraints, she needs value-added stuff like fillets, steak or even ready-to-eat items. The industry has to keep pace with the market trends. That is where the money is. If we don't do it, someone else will."