The Red Sea Ecosystem and Fisheries

The Red Sea, characterized by a number of unique oceanographic and biological features, is a hotspot for coral reef ecology. It also provided humans for millennia, from the earliest record of human consumption of seafood to its current role as an important fishing ground for the seven countries along its shores. Contemporary fisheries need monitoring and management, and catch data are crucial to both. However, reliable time-series of catch data are lacking for most Red Sea fisheries. Here, the catches of Red Sea fisheries are ‘reconstructed’ from 1950 to 2010 by country (i.e., Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel) and sector (artisanal, subsistence, industrial and recreational), and in terms of their species composition. Historical documents, published and unpublished reports and other grey literature, databases, field surveys, anecdotal information, interviews, and information on processed seafood products were used as sources.

When reliable data were available for a number of years, they were used as anchor points, and missing years were interpolated, based on assumptions of continuity, and given the best knowledge of the fisheries available. The reconstructed catches (which also include discards) were compared to the statistics submitted by the above-mentioned countries to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Overall, the total Red Sea catch was low (around 50,000 t · year⁻¹) until 1960, increased to a peak (around 177,000 t) in 1993, and is declining since. Overall, it was 1.5 times higher than the catch officially submitted to FAO by the countries bordering the Red Sea. Artisanal fisheries generally contributed about half of the total Red Sea catch, while the composition of the catch was extremely varied, with no single species or even family dominating. In addition to the national catch reconstructions, the local (Arabic) names of common commercial fishes, an ecosystem model and a time series of the effort are also presented. The resulting catch trends provide crucial historical records and important guidance for the development of future fisheries management policies aiming at resource conservation and sustaining the livelihoods of the coastal communities. Extra material for this chapter is available from http://​extras.​springer.​com/​.

The Egyptian Red Sea ecosystem and the fisheries catches in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are presented from 1950 to 2010. Five fisheries sectors are identified and their catch reconstructed by taxonomic group. Published papers, gray literature, reports, databases and on-site observations were used as sources. Where data gaps were identified, they were accommodated with assumptions based on the best available knowledge, which are clearly stated and can be substituted by different ones given better information. The result showed that purse seining is the dominant fishery, followed by trawling, subsistence, artisanal and recreational fisheries. The total catch of Egypt in its Red Sea EEZ was around 6000 t · year⁻¹ in the early 1950s, which rapidly increased in 1960 and remained at a high level except for a sharp decline in 1973 due to the Israel-Arab war. The peak catch of about 50,000 t was obtained in 1993; catches then declined to about 25,000 t · year⁻¹ by the end of 2000s. A total of 42 taxonomic groups were identified in the catches, in addition to many which could not be individually identified and were categorized as ‘others’. Horse mackerel, scads and other jacks, and herring jointly accounted for 34 % of the total catch. The estimated total catch was compared with data Egypt submitted to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and clear differences were observed. While the reconstructed total catch is, overall, 1.1 times what Egypt submitted to FAO, this relatively close match masks a much stronger dominance of the reconstructed over the official catches from 1950 to the mid-1990s, followed by a period of high official catches, which includes fish caught outside Egypt’s Red Sea EEZ.

The fisheries catch in the Red Sea Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sudan are presented for the years 1950–2010, by major fisheries and taxa. Sudanese fisheries went through major shifts. The catches were relatively low about 2,000 t · year⁻¹ in the 1950s, remained low, then took off at the end of 1970s, mainly due to development projects funded by foreign organizations, which led to a massive increase in artisanal fishing effort, and ultimately, to catches of more than 5,000 t · year⁻¹ in the 2000s. The fisheries also shifted from being dominated by a shellfish fishery in the early years to one dominated by finfish fishery in the later years. The contribution of the industrial fishery is generally low. The reconstructed catch was at first higher than the catch reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on behalf of Sudan in the early years. However, in later years, the opposite occurred, i.e., the catch by FAO was higher than the reconstructed catch. This was deemed to be due to over-reporting by Sudan.

The fisheries catches in the Eritrean Red Sea Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are presented from 1950 to 2010. Six major fisheries, different in terms of their operations, the fish they target and their market, were identified. Overall, the fisheries went through major shifts from the state of high catches dominated by small pelagic beach seining in the 1950s and 1960s (slightly under 30,000 t · year⁻¹) to the domination by bottom trawling, prevailing since the 1990s. The catches started to decline to less than 2,500 t · year⁻¹, a level which lasted from the mid-1970s to the first few years after independence (1991), before recovering and reaching a new peak of about 20,000 t · year⁻¹ at the beginning of 2000s. The artisanal fisheries, which target mainly fresh fish for direct human consumption, have exhibited a relatively steady upward trend since independence. Major findings are (1) the total catch for the period from 1950 to 2010 was 2.2 times the data reported by Eritrea to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); and (2) that political events strongly impacted the fisheries of Eritrea, notably the struggle for independence.

Following a brief description of the Yemen’s Red Sea coast and its coral reefs, the marine fisheries catches in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Yemen in the Red Sea are presented from 1950 to 2010. Reported catches were separated into different sectors, mainly artisanal, subsistence and industrial, and further into taxonomic composition. In the Red Sea waters of Yemen, the only active fisheries were the artisanal and subsistence until 1970; then, the industrial fishery started. The total catch remained low (around 10,000 t · year⁻¹ in the 1950s) until the formation of fishery cooperatives and the availability of loans from the Agricultural Credit Bank in the mid-1970s, which allowed for the motorization of many vessels. The peak catch of about 90,000 t · year⁻¹ was achieved at the end of the 1990s and then it declined to about 44,000 t · year⁻¹ by the end of the 2000s. The industrial fishery picked up only in the mid-1990s, but its catches began to decline around 2003. The reconstructed catches were 1.9 times the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) catch data for the Red Sea part of Yemen.

Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula with access to both the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, of which it represents most of the east coast. Despite the Saudi Arabian coastline in the Red Sea being three times longer than its Gulf coast, Saudi catches from both coasts are similar. The catches of Saudi Arabian fisheries in the Red Sea are presented from 1950 to 2010, based on data from various sources. This reconstruction was conducted separately for each fishery sector: artisanal, subsistence, industrial and recreational. The total catch of each sector was further divided into its component species or groups of species. The catch was low at the beginning of 1950s, about 7,000 t · year⁻¹, and grew only slowly. The major change in total Saudi Arabian catch occurred at the beginning of the 1980s, with the massive motorization of artisanal boats and the beginning of industrial fisheries. Peak catch, i.e., about 50,000 t · year⁻¹ occurred in the mid-1990s, after which catches decreased to about 40,000 t · year⁻¹ at the end of the 2000s. The artisanal fishery had the highest contribution to the total catch (64 %), followed by the industrial (23 %), subsistence (10 %) and recreational fisheries (3 %). While a large number of taxa were identified in the catch, few groups were dominant. The reconstructed catches were compared with the data Saudi Arabia reported to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and was found to be 1.5 times the catch reported by FAO on behalf of Saudi Arabia from 1950 to 2010. The major discrepancy occurred following the mid-1980s, because of the industrial fishery, which became very active then, and whose substantial discards remain unreported. The procedures and assumptions used here are clearly stated, because they may be useful for further research on specific aspects of the fishery, and to improve the catch time series presented herein.

Jordan has a short coastline in the Gulf of Aqaba, to the north of the Red Sea. It is the only access the country has to sea, and thus numerous economic activities are concentrated there. The fisheries catch taken within the small Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Jordan in the inner Gulf of Aqaba is presented, based on a variety of government and non-government sources for the years 1950–2010, and compared with the catch Jordan reports annually to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The different sectors of the fisheries are treated separately and the composition of the catches estimated. There are strong discrepancies between the reconstructed catch and FAO data, in part due to Jordan’s fishing fleets having operated outside of their waters, in Saudi Arabian waters, from 1950 to 1984, and to an overall lack of interest for what are rather small operations, generating very low catches. The catch was around 150 t · year⁻¹ from 1950 to the mid-1960s, then declined, due to conflicts in the area, and started to increase again in the mid-1980s, with some fluctuations. The highest catch of 330 t was achieved in 2009. Overall, the estimated reconstructed catch of Jordan from 1950 to 2010 was 1.7 times what is reported in the FAO database. This reconstruction exercise, with its explicitly stated procedures and assumptions and accounting all the sectors comprehensively, can serve as starting point to improve the quality of the data for Jordan, and for better management of its marine resources, which are under increasing pressure from fishing and other developments in the region.

In addition to its main coast on the Mediterranean Sea, Israel has the very short coast on Red Sea, in the northern, inner part of the Gulf of Aqaba. The fisheries catch taken within the small Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Israel, in the Gulf of Aqaba is presented, based on catch estimates reconstructed from a variety of published papers, government and non-government sources for the years 1950–2010, and compared with the catch it reports annually to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The different sectors of the fisheries are treated separately and the composition of the catches estimated. Israel’s total catch in its Red Sea EEZ was less than 100 t · year⁻¹ in the early 1950s, increased until it reached its peak of around 300 t · year⁻¹ in the early 1980s, then decreased abruptly (when Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt and left the Sinai Peninsula) to around 100 t · year⁻¹ in the late 2000s. Overall, the estimated reconstructed catch of Israel from 1950 to 2010 was 1.4 times what is reported in the FAO database after accounting for the fact that, from 1957 to the early 1970s, and Israeli vessels operated in Eritrean waters, but pooled their landing with those from the Israeli EEZ. This catch reconstruction with explicitly stated procedures and assumptions, accounting all the sectors comprehensively, should serve as a starting point to improve the quality of the data and for better management of resources.

The Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) modelling tool was used to simulate trophic interactions in the Red Sea ecosystem, with emphasis on its fisheries. Time-dynamic simulations were run to quantify the impact of fisheries, which represent the main anthropogenic impact on the ecosystem. The model was fitted to a time series of observed catch and effort data to improve its ability to mimic changes in the Red Sea ecosystem. EwE was also used to predict the consequences of different fishing scenarios: maintaining the status quo, banning all fishing, and projecting into the future at the present growth rate of the fisheries. Monte Carlo simulations were used to examine the sensitivity of the predictions to changes in model input parameters and the risk of fish abundance falling below selected thresholds. Equilibrium surplus-yield analyses were carried out on the major groups affected by the fishery. Finally, the model was used to examine the conflict between artisanal and industrial fisheries in the Red Sea by running scenarios where the fishing effort of each of these sectors was doubled.

We present 465 local names for 500 distinct fish and invertebrate taxa of the Red Sea, as used in Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The local names used in each country are clearly indicated, and the total of scientific-local name combinations is 870. Most of the names are in Arabic, a common language in the region in general and the coastal communities in particular. The names were acquired mainly from published reports and papers. Interviews were made to clarify some names and also to add new names. The process of acquisition, verification and standardization of these names, presented in both Arabic and Roman script along with the corresponding scientific names, is described. A brief discussion of some cultural aspects of these names is presented.