Oman Bans Man-made Coral Reefs

The Oman Government has banned the newly discovered artificial coral reefs formed by fishermen who had thrown old tyres and caused to build waste in the sea. For the next 12 months, there would be no licences granted for artificial reefs as announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The debris thrown by the Omani fishermen forms the coral which gives the impetus for fish to grow in the area.

One of the Assistant professor’s from Marine Sciences and Fisheries Department at Sultan Qaboos University has said that the decision behind the same was to regulate the use of artificial reefs by fishermen.

One such instance is in the form of the artificial coral reefs formed at the sandy coast of Batinah  where natural coral reefs are absent as the reefs require solid areas and rocks to grow on them. The fishermen in the area in order to attract fish has thrown tyre, bricks, building wastes and tree branches to grow coral.

The crux of the issue is that these materials thrown by the fisherman is harmful to the environment and additionally, certain fishermen claimed ownership over the sea area.

Owing to the misuse by fishermen, the process of granting ownership over the artificial reef have become unorganised and random despite the ministry being approving them in the past.

The ministry has undertaken a project which actually approves building artificial coral reefs  by throwing environment friendly cement blocks  of various sizes in the sea due to its understanding of the importance of the industrial coral reefs.

Finally, all fishermen in Al Batinah Governorate would be able to access the area of artificial coral  built by the ministry.