Gaza fishermen are now able to sail further out to fish but commercial fish farming may be a better option
Environmental and economic issues facing Palestinians living in Gaza have gone from bad to worse since the previous Cast Lead conflict between Gaza and Israel in 2008 – 2009. This is especially true following the most recent conflict, Pillar of Defense, just now put on hold with an Egyptian-brokered cease fire. Water problems, especially involving flooding by waste water, and a dire shortage of fresh water, may make the strip unlivable by 2020 and its water undrinkable by 2016.
Gaza fishermen have been especially hard pressed due to the Israeli naval blockade in the Mediterranean that recently restricted fisherman from sailing more than three miles out into the sea to fish.
The Israel navy has eased this restriction a bit, now allowing Gazan fishermen to sail out as far as six miles to fish as part of the recent cease fire agreement. As reported in the media, the previous 3 mile limit had been imposed to prevent smuggling of arms and other contraband into Gaza, much of which has come from Iran.
Sea fishing has always been a way of life for many Gazans; but restrictions imposed by Israel, as well as environmental changes in the sea itself, have resulted in smaller and more expensive supplies of fresh fish available in local markets.
Ekhail’s fish farm
To help solve this problem, outside assistance to help local Gazans establish commercial fish farms is a viable way to enable residents there to have larger and more reasonably priced quantities of fish available as a high protein food source.
A previously posted Green Prophet article reported that an on-land fish farm had been established near Gaza City by a man named Sohail Ekhail. The small fish farm had been successful in growing quantities of fish such as grey and red tilapia, known commonly as “moosht” by locals . Whether this fish farm was able to survive the recent onslaught remains to be known, however.
Growing commercial quantities of fish with limited area and water resources is a project that is currently being tried in Israel’s Negev region by aquaculture specialists and based on an idea formulated by a professor at Hebrew University.
Researchers involved in this project who say that it is possible to “grow fish anywhere, commercially and safely, in both cities and deserts” claim that viable quantities of fish can be grown successfully in small plastic pools supplied with a brackish or partially saline water source. This means that water that may not be suitable for drinking by humans can be successfully used for such aquaculture projects.
A Negev aquaculture fish farm
Finding solutions that would help the people of Gaza establish their own fish farms and reclaim sewage water should be shared by Israel with Gaza as a means of providing large quantities of fresh, protein-rich fish for the people living there.
Gaza Port photo by AP
Read more on fishing and environmental issues affecting people living in Gaza:
Gaza Unlivable by 2020, and its Water Undrinkable by 2016
Grow Fish Anywhere – Commercially, in Cities and Deserts
Recent Gaza Conflict has Environmental Impacts
Seaside, Gaza Fishermen Grow Own Fish
Author: Maurice Picow
Maurice Picow grew up in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., where he received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. Following graduation, Maurice embarked on a career as a real estate broker before making the decision to move to Israel. After arriving in Israel, he came involved in the insurance agency business and later in the moving and international relocation fields. Maurice became interested in writing news and commentary articles in the late 1990’s, and now writes feature articles for the The Jerusalem Post as well as being a regular contributor to Green Prophet. He has also written a non-fiction study on Islam, a two volume adventure novel, and is completing a romance novel about a forbidden love affair. Writing topics of particular interest for Green Prophet are those dealing with global warming and climate change, as well as clean technology - particularly electric cars.
The only reason there may be a need for fish farming is because the people living in Gaza are deliberately exploding their population for obvious political reasons.
Oh come on. Deliberately? That’s going too far, don’t you think, JTR?
so, Israeli can design tech solutions and Palestinians go in circles? That’s not accurate. My father once built a lime purifier on his land in Lebanon, a specialized oven essentially. Israel bombed it. The excuse was security, but you see Israel feels insecure whenever we advance ourselves. Palestine, Lebanon and Syria are main exporters of engineers in the region, and these were the drivers behind the Arabic gulf development. Guess what happens when Palestinian engineers build a set up to desalinize sea water, recycle sewage water. or even plant a tree to purify the air. The Israeli occupation forces shoots that or drives over it with a tank. I’d appreciate Green Prophet bloggers not covering that up.
I don’t think we’re covering anything up… if you go through our blog you’ll see that we write A LOT about Arab tech advances as well. But since there’s so much hateful discourse out there already, we choose to focus on the positive side of things.