Dehai

Dangers of Foreign Fishing in Eritrea

Foreign trawlers have been fishing Eritrean waters for years now and
producing a very alarming by catch, eels. Thousands of kilos of eels,
literally tons of eels have been caught just in the past few years and
this is alarming because eels only live in coral reefs.

You will never see eels swimming in the open waters where they are
easy prey for the larger predator fish. So if eels are being caught by
the foreign trawlers nets it can only mean that the these trawlers are
dragging their nets across Eritrea’s reefs.

Eels actually spend most of their time hiding in holes in the reefs
and only leave their homes to hunt amongst the corals that provide
them with cover and safety from their enemies.

Trawler nets act like a rip saw tearing off the tops of the coral
reefs and this frightens the eels so they flee their homes and are
caught by the trawlers nets.

If eels are being caught by the foreign trawlers than there is only
one reason, that the trawlers are dragging their nets across coral
reefs.

The question has to be asked, is the relatively small amount of money
paid to the Eritrean government by these foreign trawlers worth the
destruction of Eritrean coral reefs?