Pressures on Egyptian Red Sea fisheries from the artisan fishers’ perspective

The Egyptian Red Sea (ERS) supports artisanal, commercial and recreational fisheries, managed using a summertime closure, not applied to recreational fishing. Stock status is little known and management options are severely limited. To inform future management, we report the results of a questionnaire survey of artisan fishers from four Red Sea ports, collecting basic socioeconomic and fisheries data: fleet characteristics, self-reported landings, plus attitudes towards current management. Relationships among catches, technical and social categories and categorised attitudes were analysed using ordinal and multinomial logistic regressions. Median income of ERS artisanal fishers was 54% of the mean income from work in rural Egypt in 2020. Almost all respondents reported declining catches (61% blamed “overfishing”) and most were pessimistic (43% expected to remain fishing in 10 years time). The seasonal closure was poorly supported by artisanal fishers: 75% claimed it contributed to declining resources. The timing of the closure, intended to protect spawning fish, aligned with published spawning seasons for some, but not all important species. 66% of fishers identified this mismatch as the reason for policy failure. High dissatisfaction rates risk non-compliance: e.g. 23% of those interviewed switched to ‘recreational’ fishing during the closed season. Most artisan fishers of the ERS are in a precarious economic position, facing a declining resource, under management that few support, with concerns about the long term future for their livelihood. We suggest transition to a participatory approach with data-driven co-management as a long term solution. • We surveyed artisan fishers from four Egyptian Red Sea ports. • Their median income was below the mean for rural work in Egypt. • Most distrusted the seasonal closure, many exploiting loopholes to continue fishing. • Most recognised overfishing as the main cause of declining stocks. • Most wish to leave artisan fishing within 10 years, but see no viable alternative.