Sustainable Management of the Fisheries Sector in Oman - A Vision for Shared Prosperity.

This document, developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth in collaboration with the World Bank, is a sectoral nation-wide program aiming at building the fisheries sector in Oman in order to prepare it for the implementation of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Vision 2040 and its goal of creating a profitable world class sector that is ecologically sustainable and a net contributor to Oman’s economy. For this Purpose, the Ministry will redesign the way it operates to ensure that stakeholders have a voice in the management of the fisheries. It also shall put in place policies that will encourage private interests to identify and capture the sustainable economic potential of fisheries and aquaculture.
Five big steps are described in Vision 2040, as follows (i) defining the status of the fisheries resource to a level understood and accepted by all stakeholders; (ii) defining fisheries management units that will become the foundation of future management activities; (iii) agreeing and establishing effective stakeholder-based management regimes around defined management units; (iv) developing and maintaining sustainable management systems through stakeholder-engaged management; and (v) developing sustainable and profitable value chain. Re-build the fisheries sector means (i) give policy support for an ecologically sustainable and profitable sector inserted in a diversified, dynamic and globalized economy; (ii) create new jobs through licensing medium-scale boats instead industrial scale vessels for fishing high-value stocks; (iii) develop a sustainable management starting with stakeholder engagement including government, fishermen traders, consumers who purchase and eat fish, and citizens who benefit from national development investments; (iv) develop a fisheries sector that will be a net contributor to the wealth of Oman, rather than being dependent upon that wealth (mainly through subsidies); (v) invest in a modern and world-class fisheries sector centered on a young, highly skilled and professional labor force; and (vi) complete an annual fisheries status report on all important or potentially important fisheries in Oman.