Status of the Living Marine Resources in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and Their Management

Abstract

The Red Sea has a number of unique marine habitats, including seagrass beds, saltpans, mangroves, coral reefs and saltmarshes. The Gulf of Aden is a region of oceanic upwelling, resulting in high productivity of fish resources, particularly in the eastern part of the Gulf of Aden. The Socotra Archipelago constitutes a separate ecosystem; the importance of its unique environment and endemic biodiversity is on a par with the Galapagos Islands. The fisheries of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are of considerable socio-economic importance to the member states of the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA), in terms of national food security and income generation for rural communities. Fisheries resources are exploited by artisanal subsistence fishermen, local commercial fisheries and foreign industrial fisheries targeting invertebrates, demersal finfish and pelagic finfish. Many species cross national boundaries and are essentially shared stocks.