The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are a beautiful haven of marine and coastal biodiversity, created as a result of deep ocean rifting which began 70 million years ago and saw the separation of the Arabian plate from the African plate. Fortunately there is some movement amongst conservation biologists to protect this bioregion through the expansion of a carefully selected network of marine protected areas. Furthermore, legal frameworks such as the Jeddah Convention aim to establish a legally binding agreement which expresses the commitment and political will of parties (Djibouti, Yemen, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Egypt and Jordan) to tackle marine and coastal environmental issues through joint coordinated activities.

The basis for action is there, and so is the political will (at least on paper), nevertheless, several obstacles such as limited technical capacity, lack of data and scientific knowledge and limited funds make the process of formalizing agreements much harder. One other issue is tackling culturally sensitive practices.

On the Farasan Islands in Saudi Arabia, ‘The Harid’ festival celebrates the migration of Longnose Parrot fish, Hipposcarus harid, which arrive each year during springtime in a specific spot in the island to spawn. The celebration involves mass harvesting of the spawning parrot fish, where a group of men trap the fish by running them into the net.

Although this ancient practice may have made sense in the past when the Red sea was still a healthy ecosystem and able to recover from such “shocks”; nowadays we can no longer afford these practices - with all due respect to culture and tradition.

Sadly it seems like Saudi Arabia has no intention of stopping this.

Amusingly, after describing other forms of traditional artisanal fishing practices of the Farasan Island, the Saudi Tourism website states : “To celebrate this environmentally friendly and sustainable industry, The Parrot Fishing Contest (Harid festival) is held once a year.”

This is rather contradictory; you celebrate environmentally friendly and sustainable fishing practices by massacring thousands of parrot fish in three days? This is neither environmentally friendly nor sustainable.

This disturbing video shows the harid festival in action. It was obviously intended for promotional purposes and not to create awareness of the issue.

© 2007 - 2012 Green Prophet

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