ECONOMY

Coral exploitation to be limited to 6 tonnes per year

ALGIERS- The exploitation of coral fishing will be limited, in a first phase of five years, to a quota of 6 tonnes per year in the provinces of El Taref, Skikda and Jijel, with the aim of preserving this marine resource, said Director General of the National Agency for Sustainable Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture (ANDPA), Naim Belakri.

ALGIERS- The exploitation of coral fishing will be limited, in a first phase of five years, to a quota of 6 tonnes per year in the provinces of El Taref, Skikda and Jijel, with the aim of preserving this marine resource, said Director General of the National Agency for Sustainable Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture (ANDPA), Naim Belakri.

"Limited to a quota of 6 tonnes per year, the exploitation of coral fishing will concern, during the next five years, the areas of El Kala to the Tunisian border and the province of Skikda and Jijel," said Belakri in an interview with APS.

The coral exploitation scheme set up by the ministry determines the quantity exploited and the number of exploiters, he said.

The scheme splits the national coastline into five areas, each comprising two areas of exploitation. And each exploitation area is open for a period of five years before being closed for a period of twenty years.

With regard to the first five years, the open area includes two areas designated for fishing: the first is the area of the East that starts from the old port of El-Qala to the Tunisian border, which will benefit from 30 exploitation licenses and an authorized quantity of 3 tons per year, said Belakri.

As for the second area located in the western part of the region, it includes the provinces of Skikda and Jijel, which benefit from 15 licenses each and a three-ton quota, he added.