CAIRO - Lake Bardawil, located in Sinai on an area of about 165,000 feddans (acres), is an important source of fish in Egypt, especially as it's unpolluted. However, officials have been turning a blind eye to the many violations happening there. The recent Sinai Liberation Day celebrations witnessed many people calling for expediting the national project to develop Sinai. Lake Bardawil should be taken into serious consideration, as around 10,000 families in Sinai rely on the lake's fish for their livelihood; the fish, of course, also make an important contribution to the local market. About 200 of the lake's fishermen recently demonstrated outside the office of the head of the lake's administration, Selim Salman, in el-Teloul, near Be'r Al-Abd, not far from el-Arish in North Sinai. The fishermen were protesting, because they're catching far fewer fish these days. But there's also another problem. Every year, the lake is closed for fishing for four months, to give the fish time to reproduce. It was meant to reopen for fishing on April 22, but the fishermen were surprised, when the lake's administrators postponed the reopening for another week. This was a big problem for these fishermen and people working in related industries, who need to feed their families. “I was already to start fishing again, as I'd done the necessary maintenance on my boat,“ says one of these angry fishermen, Selim Mahmoud. Another problem is that the seawater that flows into Lake Bardawil contains a lot of stones and sand, causing it to gradually silt up, Ahmed Bekir, another fisherman, told Al-Akhbar semi-official newspaper, adding that this also means fewer fish swimming into the lake. There is yet another problem. Bekir said that businessmen buy the annual fishing licences for LE3,000 (about $500), then sell them to the fishermen for LE10,000. Salem Farag, also a fisherman, notes that some fishermen use nets, that don't allow very small fish to escape, which means fewer of the fry in the lake reaching maturity. Farag, who blames the lake's administrators for not doing any inspections, says that there must be regular inspections and stiff fines for the violators. Meanwhile, former MP Nasrallah Al-Akra' says that officials at the Fish Wealth Authority are guilty of many violations, including extorting money from the fishermen. “An international organisation donated LE50 million to the lake. Where's all that money gone?” he asks.
