The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, MoCCaE, as part of its mandate to carry out field visits in order to audit environmental, agricultural, livestock and fishery facilities in the UAE, recently conducted a surprise inspection at the Ajman Fish Market.

The visit, carried out by the Fish Inspection Section at the Ministry’s External Audit Department, was organised in coordination with Ajman Municipality and the Ajman Fishermen Association to verify the compliance of the fish market with federal fisheries legislation.

The inspection team witnessed several violations of Ministerial Decision No. 580 of 2015 concerning the prevention of fishing, selling and marketing of undersized fish. Decision No. 580 specifies that any fish caught by mistake that are smaller than the legally specified minimum size must be released back to the sea, unharmed.

The ministry stressed the need to abide by the laws issued to preserve the country’s fish stocks in order to achieve its strategic objectives of enhancing food safety and sustainability of local production. Its External Audit Section regularly inspects fishery facilities for compliance with federal regulations governing exploitation and conservation of living aquatic resources in cooperation with the relevant local authorities.

The External Audit Section has held several training courses and workshops for fish market inspectors at local authorities.

Source: Wam