Hammour in Peril

The fishing of juvenile hammour has become an increasing problem in the UAE. As the restaurant business becomes more interested in the flesh of young hammour the natural stocks deplete to even more dangerous levels. The larger fish are also caught and sold, but this is not nearly as significant as the smaller younger catch.

This grouper is a slow growing fish, and precious resource in the Persian gulf and immediate surrounding waters. At a growing rate of less than a kilo a year this fish struggles and looses the fight against commercial fisherman on a day to day basis.

With no strong laws protecting this fish along with many others in the Gulf the populations drop to critical levels, while the healthy spawning stock biomass is universally accepted at 20\% it is now at less than 2\%.

These numbers mean roughly 1 in 50 hammour is at a stage where it is able to reproduce.

Sign this petition to the Dubai Municipality to conserve this beautiful fish for generations to come. There is no more time to wait. Act now, or loose a resource valued by nations around the world.

This petition states that new limits on the minimum size of hammour will be introduced, and enforced unlike the previous vague laws that have allowed fisherman to take more than Dh24.2 million of hammour from the ocean using destructive fishing methods.