June 11
The fishing activities will be suspended one month earlier than usual, according to the Myanmar Fisheries Department.
The no-catch period was set from June to August last year, but now it was fixed from May to July this year. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation held discussion and workshop with the local experts and surveyed with the help of Norway to help fish populations recover.
Fix the fishing season
“The fish breeding season was changed by conducting research with the help of Norway. According to the findings, we changed the no-catch period depending on the highest breeding rate. The marine resources become rare not because of climate changes, mining or catching fish with illegal nets but because of the catching. Therefore, fishing is banned during the fish breeding season. We set a three-month ban for the fish breeding season this year,” said an official of the Yangon Region Fisheries Department.
Research
The country boasts numerous seas, so there are plenty of marine products with adequate fish for local. The export of fish and prawns can also earn foreign income, and the government receives tax from marine products.
Therefore, the government jointly makes efforts together with the private entrepreneurs to develop the marine product sectors. To protect the fishery resource, the researches were conducted with the Norwegian experts for three times from Rakhine coastal regions to Kawthoung until 2015.
Good results
The Fisheries Department also set the nets for onshore and offshore fishing like gill net, stow net, trawl, purse seine and also conducted educating programmes for the fishermen to follow the rules and regulations every year. According to the joint research, the fish farming is the highest from February and April. The research was begun in 1986 and restarted again in 2013 and 2015.
Closing season
There are more than 900 fishing boats in Yangon, and they were separately parked in Pyapon Township of Ayeyawady Region, Kyaukpyu Township of Rakhine State and Taninthayi Region during the non-fishery period. Currently, there are about 570 fishing vessels parked in Yangon this year.
Non-fishing period
Most of the people living in coastal regions mainly depend on the fisheries, and the marine workers also notice that the fisheries resources, including prawns, decline. The relevant fisheries departments also arrange to educate programmes, release orders and take actions against those who catch fish with two layers of net during the fish breeding season. This year, the non-fishery period is set between May and August. — Nyein Thu/GNLM
