A project for the development of the modest fishing sector in Lebanon with Italian aid

The Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Hajj Hasan, organised yesterday a press conference to outline the main components of a development project targeting the fishing sector and entitled CIHEAM-PESCA LIBANO which is implemented by the Ministry with a EURO 300 million grant from the Italian cooperation.  
During the conference which was attended by Dr. Moeen Hamzeh, the Secretary General and the National Council for Scientific Research CNRS, Riccardo Smimmo the First Counselor of the Italian Embassy in Lebanon, and Biagio Di Terlizzi the Head of Cooperation Office at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (IAMB). The Minister noted that sea fishing constitutes a small percentage of the GDP despite the length of the Mediterranean coastline and basically since relies on rudimentary techniques.  The sector employs some 7000 fisherfolk using no more than 250 small old boats.  The Minister stressed the need for further efforts by both the private and public sectors to develop marine fishing especially since Lebanon produces only 10% of its total fish consumption.  The sector currently suffers from many serious problems such as water pollution, illegal fishing which result in the depletion of the fish stock.
Hajj Hassan also added that, years ago, he submitted a project to the Cabinet for a cost of USD 8 million and which is based on three main axis namely: replacing old equipments, abolishing fishing during the reproduction seasons, providing fisherfolks with compensations during the idle seasons in addition to including some 7000 fisherfolk families in the National Social Security Fund.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar 30 January 2014