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Oman Fishing
Historically, fishing was second only to farming as an
economic activity in pre-oil Oman. Both the Gulf of Oman
and the
Arabian Sea offer a variety of catch, including sardines,
bluefish, mackerel, shark, tuna, abalone, lobsters, and
oysters.
Fishermen harvest their catch in the waters near the
coast, using
the traditional, small seagoing canoe, to which an
outboard motor
has been added.
The fishing sector (along with agriculture) is
considered one
of the most promising areas for commercial attention and
accounts
for the highest non-oil export revenue. However, sales in
1990
totaled RO17.3 million, dwarfed by oil export earnings of
RO1.9
billion. The GCC provided the largest fish export market.
The
fishing sector also provided employment opportunities to
19,296
fishermen registered in 1990, of whom 18,546 were employed
in
traditional fisheries and 750 in industrial fisheries.
Like
agriculture, fishing has been affected by the diminishing
number
of people employed in the sector. As increasing numbers of
fishermen turn to more remunerative employment, there has
been a
gradual decrease in the amount of fish caught.
The government has stressed modernizing and expanding
the
fishing industry and developing its export potential. The
Joint
United States-Oman Commission funded the Oman Fisheries
Development and Management Project to strengthen the
technical,
administrative, and management skills of the Directorate
General
of Fisheries Resources (DGFR). In strengthening the DGFR,
the
government hopes to increase private-sector confidence in
the
fishing industry and, in the long term, to create
private-sector-
led development of the industry.
The government is following a dual
strategy--internally, to
improve the capacity of the DGFR to manage Oman's fishing
resources and, externally, to provide incentives for
fishermen to
remain in their occupations. The government provides
subsidies to
purchase fiberglass boats and outboard engines; to
construct
workshops, cold storage facilities, and jetties along the
coastline; and to establish companies to market fish both
domestically and internationally.
Data as of January 1993
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