Hadhramout 's first Fish Farm

An 18 million Dollar aquaculture project is being planned for Hadhramout. A German company is making final arrangements, and is to start construction of the fish farming project in the next few months. The project will be the first of its kind in Hadhramout, and reportedly the first in the Middle East.

Before: a lack of experience, finance and investment had not made fish farming possible in Yemen. For an overview of the fish farming sector in Yemen, read this; and for more on aquaculture, go here. One of Yemen's greatest natural wealth, is fish. Exploited wisely and in a sustainable manner, the fish industry can be very profitable and good for the country. Otherwise, if not controlled and managed responsibly and with the environment in mind, fish farming can be destructive and can have adverse effects on the environment and marine habitat.

There are other collateral problems created by industrial scale aquaculture: the destruction of coastal habitats through waste disposal, the introduction of diseases and the possible escape of exotic species that can threaten indigenous breeds. .......... we need to farm fish in ways that more closely "mimic the oceans," combining multiple, complementary species, including "cleaner fish" to control sea lice, for instance, as some farms already do in Norway. TIME

Yemen has a huge fish resource; one of the highest in the World. Presently, the fish sector here, is rapidly growing and provides thousands of jobs to fishermen and factory workers, who in turn support over a million dependents. Large reserves of fish resources are found along Yemen's long coastline of almost 2,300 kilometers; the territorial waters, extend from the Red Sea through the Gulf of Aden and to the Arabian Sea; and extends 200 nautical miles (370 km.) out from the coast. So far, Yemen has used only a fraction of its marine resources. It's reported that, tens of multinational fishing vessels, some of which are unlicensed, are operating off Yemen's coast. Worse, some of these vessels use explosives to catch fish; explosives which are destructive not only to the marine life but to marine habitat too.

With the rapid growth of fishing and Yemen's very long coastline which is difficult to monitor and protect, Yemen's marine life and fishes could be in danger. To control: overfishing, inappropriate fishing practices and the pollution of the sea with chemicals and waste - Yemen's Seas and marine life and habitat, need better: monitoring, control, management and protection.