Fishing banned on the Sea of Galilee

Fishing in the Sea of Galilee has been banned, Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture has announced, amid claims stocks have fallen to a dangerous low.

By Nathan Jeffay, in Tiberias and Anita Singh
Published: 8:00AM BST 03 Apr 2010 It is the site where Jesus told his disciples: “I will make you fishers of men.” As the Bible tells us, four of the Apostles – James, Andrew, John and Peter – worked as fishermen on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Were they to ply their trade now, however, the Apostles would find themselves in court. Officials at the Ministry announced the fishing ban, claiming that stocks have fallen to a dangerously low level. The decree ends a tradition which has continued virtually unchanged since Biblical times, and will dismay both local fishermen and Christian pilgrims who flock to the site each year. The two-year ban comes into effect at the end of this month. Chaim Anjioni, director of fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “We are just before a catastrophe, and that is why we have decided to stop fishing. “We need to stop fishing to give the small fish a chance to grow, causing fish stocks to increase and the lake to recover.” … Yet recent years have seen a dramatic decline in stocks. Before 2005, 295 tons of St Peter’s Fish were caught annually. In 2009, the total was only eight tons. The government blames fishermen for using nets with smaller holes than are permitted by law, using nets which exceed legal limits – resulting in huge hauls of very young fish which have not had a chance to breed. …