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Yangon Weather Forecast, Burma

Govt orders mesh size increased on fishing nets

FISHERMEN must use bigger-gauge nets as a conservation measure as from September 1, the government has ordered. But some industry sources say that unless the measure is also enforced on illegal boats, it will not work.

The Department of Fisheries (DOF) announced last week that the holes in the netting should be increased in size to 2 inches or 50.8mm for fish and 1.5 inches or 38.1mm for prawns. The current sizes are 1.5 inches or 38.1mm for fish and 1 inch or 25.4mm for prawns.

The changes result from discussions in February between marine fishermen and fisheries department experts on environmental conservation, department Director General U Khin Ko Lay said.
The sizes of trawler nets were officially set at 2.5 inches or 63.5mm for fish and 2 inches or 50.8mm for prawns in 1994, but smaller gauges were then approved after pressure from marine fishermen, he said.

‘If we have to use a bigger gauge, then the ban on illegal fishing boats should be seriously enforced.’

“According to catch surveys, no small fish escape when the net size is 1.5 inches, but 19 percent escape when the gauge is increased to 2 inches,” U Khin Ko Lay said.

Last September, members of the Marine Fisheries Association, MFF and DOF met again to discuss reducing net gauges.
The kinds of shrimps targeted include giant tiger shrimp (35cm in length).

U Han Tun, executive vice-president of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation, said that the proper size had to be set to ensure both that the yield did not decrease, and that it did not catch juveniles and so disrupt breeding.

“A study from the 1990s shows that up to 31.6 kilograms of high-quality shrimp such as giant tiger shrimp could be caught per hour, but we cannot achieve that now. The yield has fallen to only about 10 to 15kg per hour,” U Han Tun said.
But one businessman insists that the net size should be the same both for local companies and for illegal fishing boats from Thailand, otherwise conservation efforts would prove futile.

“Illegal Thai fishing boats are still coming in, which is one of the reasons for the fall in the size of the catch. Their nets have much smaller gauges than ours. If we have to use a bigger gauge, then the ban on illegal fishing boats should be seriously enforced,” said the businessman, who asked not to be named.

The cost of converting nets is also a factor, since it costs an estimated K400,000 to change the gauge of a net. A boat with five nets could spend K2 million.

Other countries’ authorities set different sizes for their nets. West Africa uses 40 to 50mm, India 35 to 40mm, Queensland, Australia, 40mm and Madagascar 35-40mm.

The DOF also announced a ban on the use of store nets and set bag nets for marine fishing during the breeding season from April 1 to May 30.

“We used to ban these nets for up to three months each year, but due to requests from marine fishermen we have reduced the ban to two months starting from 2009,” said U Khin Ko Lay.

 

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