Within days of reports coming in that dead dolphins have washed in on the coastline of Peru, thousands of dead tuna have been reported in the waters west of Dubai.
The coastguard reported thousands of dead mackerel tuna in the Saddah district. The Ministry of Environment and Water and Dubai Municipality are investigating the incident but initial reports suggest that banned fishing methods could be responsible for the incident.
Major General Mohammad Al Merri, chairman of the Fishermen's Cooperative Association of Dubai, explained that incorrect use of a professional fishing technique, combined with the use of illegal net sizes, around four times larger than that allowed by the law — were the main reasons behind the death of the fish in Dubai and that a similar incident had occurred off the coast of Umm Al Quwain.
Typically boats will follow fish for a month then surround them with nets and then pull them to shallower waters, in order to catch them in controlled amounts. However fishermen in UAE have attempted to catch all of the fish in one day. This over-zealousness means that the fishermen drag the nets over the tops of artificial reefs where the nets snag and tear. The fish then fall to the seabed and resurface when they start to decompose.
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