On the Nile bank, which extends along the Minya Governorate—in the center of northern Egypt— 10,000 fishermen have established a syndicate after unsuccessfully unifying under the Mubarak era.
“There is no clear authority to deal with,” said Atef Shawqi a fisherman in the Deir Barsha village anchorage in Minya. “Fishing in the Nile is supervised by both the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation as the Nile is a waterway, and the Ministry of Environmental Affairs ensures that all the environmental conditions are met.”
On the Nile bank, which extends along the Minya Governorate—in the center of northern Egypt— 10,000 fishermen have established a syndicate after unsuccessfully unifying under the Mubarak era.
“There is no clear authority to deal with,” said Atef Shawqi a fisherman in the Deir Barsha village anchorage in Minya. “Fishing in the Nile is supervised by both the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation as the Nile is a waterway, and the Ministry of Environmental Affairs ensures that all the environmental conditions are met.”
The former’s laws contradict the latter’s regulations, he explained, and fishermen know neither legal controls and differences nor the responsibility of each authority regarding their profession. Shawqi believes there is a need to establish a syndicate, which can mediate between the two parties.
“The two authorities neglect fishermen’s interests and act as oppressive ones that enforce laws and collect fines without understating the nature of the profession or providing services and facilities for fishermen,” Shawqi added.
A sea of problems
Inlets in the middle of the Nile or beside its banks represent excellent fishing areas and natural fisheries, as sediments exist in large amounts and fish lay their eggs, are exposed to filling up, according to Shawqi.
“But big fishing monopolists carry out illegal overfishing through lethal powder that dopes and pollutes fish and makes them inconsumable by human beings and causes serious damage to our fishing areas. Many illegal lethal fishing methods, like gas pipes, spread while the environmental authorities are either absent or corrupt.”
Western bank fisherman, Ashraf Sayed, said getting a fishing license depended on one’s connections to the mafia of big fishermen. “Licenses are only given to big fishermen who can pay bribes and establish a network of interests, who in turn lease them to small fishermen,” he said. “A big fisherman pays the state L.E. 300 ($US 49) for each hired acre of the inlets and then rents it to small fishermen at ten times that price.”
Civil or monopolizing organizations?
Nissan Adel, director of Fishermen Protection Project – a civil organization operating in the area – said, “The six civil organizations operating in this area were established a long time ago, but they suffer from insufficient funding and the inability to help fishermen. All they can do is help market their production and improve their homes. Of the 10,000 fishermen operating, only 1,883 are officially licensed, many of whom use illegal fishing methods.”
Ashraf Sayed, however, claimed that some organizations, which used to receive funds to support fishermen now facilitate monopolizing the Nile’s water. He accused the organizations of becoming a part of a corruption mechanism with government agencies. Sayed hopes the new syndicate will pull away from the corruption track because its role is to defend the interests of all of its members and provide them with a health insurance policy. In addition, it will be responsible for conducting negotiations on establishing cooperatives responsible for marketing the production far from the big fishermen monopoly.
He said the viability of the river for fishing was fishermen’s real concern and suggested that fishing be banned during reproduction periods and that inlets shouldn’t be filled up. These issues do not only affect the Minya’s fishermen but all the fishermen of the river, which extends more than 1500 km in Egypt. He also suggestd establishing a ministry for river and maritime fishing.
Maher Bushri a founder of the Minya syndicate ‘Better Life Center’, said the syndicate’s agenda was to raise the fishermen’s pension above the current L.E. 80 (US $13) level, reducing the retirement age from 65 to 55, providing fishermen’s families with a comprehensive health insurance policy, lobbying to modify the laws which violate their rights, contributing and cooperating in the field of anti-pollution and overfishing, and establishing a fellowship fund to support fishermen during reproduction months.
“This syndicate will be part of a number of syndicates to include all of the river’s fishermen nationwide,” Bushri said.
