Within a few days, Resolution No. (4) of 2025 issued by the Supreme Council for the Environment to regulate the licensing of Bahraini fishermen to practice commercial marine fishing will begin, which requires the presence of a Bahraini captain on every boat.
As soon as the details of the decision were announced, the features of the transformation became clear among the sailors themselves, as the decision revived a Bahraini profession that had almost disappeared under the weight of rent and waiver.
In recent years, fishing licenses were managed from behind the scenes, after many fishermen preferred to sit at home and rent their licenses to expatriate workers for nominal sums, while fish resources were being depleted for the benefit of a small group that controlled the market and exported fish as they pleased.
What caught my attention in this matter was what was published by Al-Watan Al-Gharaa newspaper, about the stories of some sailors who rediscovered their profession again after they left it to Asian workers who ate up the goodness of the sea and threw them crumbs. One of the sailors, who was over sixty years old, said that he decided to return to the sea after years of letting others fish in his name. When he returned, he discovered that the revenues from the sea were ten times greater than the rent he had received, and that the sea was still generous, but it needed someone to know it.
In fact, some foreign workers turned into major traders, as in the case of one of them who controlled more than 46 fishing licenses, controlling the market and suppliers, while the original license holders stood by, lacking control and rights.
Today, Resolution No. (4) comes to put an end to this chaos, and to return the fish wealth to its rightful owners, in confirmation of the principle of justice and the protection of national resources for future generations.
Involving a Bahraini sailor on every boat is not just an administrative measure, but rather a reform step that puts the profession back on track and gives the Bahraini sailor his status and role in the local economy.
What we see in the return of sailors to the sea and a gradual abundance of fish is a promising beginning for a new phase called the Bahraini Sea for Bahrainis.
The decision is not only a regulatory law, but a national reform that restores the dignity of the sea, the prestige of the profession, and the rights of its owners.
* Captain – Editor-in-Chief of the English newspaper “Daily Tribune”.
