Hammour film charts troubling fate of the UAE’s favourite fish
▶ Once considered king among Gulf marine life, the animal’s decline is disturbing, writes Anna Zacharias
Pity the hammour. The spotted grouper can live for 20 years and was once considered king among Arabian Gulf marine life. In Gulf slang, to be called a hammour is to be a big fish, a person of importance. But today, the hammour is synonymous with the hotel buffet. It seldom survives longer than eight years before it lands on the dinner plate and the species is on the brink of extinction.
A new documentary by the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi tells the story of the disappearance of formerly common species such as the hammour through firsthand accounts by Emirati fishermen.
The 25-minute film, Our Sea,
Our Heritage, was shown for the first time on Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show.
“There was an abundance of fish in the past,” says one fisherman from the town of Sila, in western Abu Dhabi on the Saudi border. “One net would catch 500 kilograms of fish. Now if you cast 100 nets you wouldn’t even catch 10kg. There are no fish. The fish are gone, gone.”
Another shares a similar tale. “Hammour were caught as soon as you threw the line. Now, for two years, I haven’t been able to catch even one kilogram.”
Stocks of indigenous species such as hammour, farsh and sheri have declined by 90 per cent or more.
The film features insights from 22 fishermen – a sample of more than 300 interviewed at 12 landing sites across the UAE between 2015 and last year.
The interviews were part of the development of the UAE National Framework for Sustainable Fisheries. In the documentary, elders call for strong action to conserve marine life.
“Our results certainly indicate that attitudes among fishermen are changing,” said Winston Cowie, the documentary’s director and the agency’s marine policy manager. “If you had told us before we started the interviews that 80 per cent of the elderly fishers would tell us that they thought the fishery had declined significantly over the past 30 years, and that they were motivated to support its recovery, I don’t think we would have believed it.”
The agency aims to restore stocks to 30 per cent of their original population size by 2030.
However, data on declining fish species have not been enough to convince fishermen to change unsustainable practices.
Elders’ calls for action could turn the tide and encourage younger fishermen to embrace government conservation measures.
Some recommendations have already been brought into force. The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi brought in strong regulations on recreational spearfishing this year, including an outright ban on hammour. This year, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment banned the use of gargoor – traditional domed wire traps.
A decade ago, many fishermen opposed such regulations, believing them to be at odds with traditional fishing practices. The film is evidence that attitudes are changing.
“The interviews we conducted with fishermen demonstrate that the science we know corroborates the traditional knowledge they hold,” said Dr Shaikha Al Dhaheri, the agency’s secretary general. “The UAE’s fisheries are severely overexploited due to overfishing and in need of major recovery.”
Our Sea, Our Heritage will be screened at the agency’s stand at the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show until Saturday and will then be available on the agency’s YouTube channel.