Status of fisheries in Egypt: reflections on past trends and management challenges

This paper provides a summary from primary and grey literature on the current status of fisheries in Egypt. It also discusses gaps which may impede effective management, and highlights future challenges. Total national seafood production has grown steadily overall in the last 15 years due to the rapid growth of aquaculture, despite a decline in fisheries production (about 23 %) from 1997 to 2012. The total production in 2012 was approximately 1,371,975 tonnes, tripling the 457,036 tonnes obtained in 1997. Fisheries production amounted to 354,237 tonnes (25 %) whilst aquaculture produced 1,017,738 (75 %) tonnes in 2012. Fisheries in Egypt's northern lakes were the most important (36 %) followed by marine fisheries in the Mediterranean and Red Seas (32 %), which had the greatest variations in catch. The main decline in wild fisheries was due to the reduced landings from both marine and northern lake fisheries. Egypt has a wide variety of marine and freshwater species, comprising Sardina pilchardus, Penaeus japonicus, Mugil cephalus, and Saurida undosquamis, etc.; while Oreochromis niloticus, Clarias gariepinus are the main cultured species. The Egyptian fishing fleet increased by over 40 % from 3415 motorised vessels in 1997-4909 vessels in 2012. Most of these (3046 vessels, 62 %) fish in the Mediterranean, while the rest (1863 vessels, 38 %) fish in the Red Sea. Longlines were the fishing gear most used by the motorised vessels (45 %), followed by trawlers (26 %). Policy during the past few decades has been development-oriented, encouraging investment in aquaculture to ensure sustainable fish production, rather than managing wild fisheries in a sustainable way. Despite vigorous efforts through national legislation to address fishery management issues, the weak enforcement, low compliance and unregulated fishing suggest the need to restructure the fisheries management system. The main fisheries stakeholders (policy makers, scientists and fishery managers) should consider the different scales of these fisheries and the context in which they operate, in order to develop suitable management strategies.