Syrian Arab Republic

The aim of this Decree is to regulate catching and fishing of fish and other living organisms in the Syrian public waters. The public waters include marine and inland waters, as specified in Section 1.

Commercial fishing - National vessels: Licence (Art. 9 of Legislative Decree No. 30 of 1964). Commercial fishing - Foreign vessels: Authorization (Art. 8 of Legislative Decree No. 30 of 1964). Shore fishers: Licence (Art. 9 of Legislative Decree of 1964) (sf). Recreational fishing: Individual licence (Art. 35 of Legislative Decree No. 30 of 1964).

In Syria, a license is required to fish recreationally either from the boat or the shore (Gaudin and De Young 2007). The recreational fishing sector is limited to angling, and is to use a maximum of three hooks per fishing line. In 2006, 148 marine recreational licenses were issued (A. Saad, pers. obs.).

Trawling is forbidden along the coast for 3 1/2 months (15 May-1 September).

These trawlers caught between 300-500 kg per day, and were banned from operating in territorial waters as of 2005 (Ministerial Decision no: 15/T, dated: 19/4/2004, Saad 2010) due to a rapid decline in European hake. ... Bottom trawlers were banned from operating in coastal waters (e.g., within 12 nm) in summer months since 1966 for conservation purposes (Margetts 1968).

It was declared according to decision No. 26/T in 2000 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform ... located to the north of Latakia near the old city of Ugarit ... It stretches for a length of 2.3 km and a depth of 1.5 km in the sea, with a total area of about 10 km2 ... extending from the Higher Institute for Marine Research northward to the lighthouse of Ibn Hani. The MPA was established to protect marine creatures and provide a secure habitat for their reproduction and serves as the only refuge for many threatened marine species. Reported violations include using dynamite in fishing as well as the use of nets with small mesh.

4. For the purposes of this Legislative Decree, fishing shall be the capture of the live resources of Public Waters by any means and for whatever purpose. 5. (a) For the purposes of this Legislative Decree, shore fishermen shall be all persons exercising fishing as a trade without using a boat. ... (d) Off-shore fishermen shall be all persons exercising fishing from a fishing vessel, save that for sponge diving the term diver shall be used. [The Decree defines 'fishing' broadly (any means), so a licence regime applies in principle to all fishing; the only 'diving' it specifically regulates is sponge diving - no provision addresses underwater fishing for finfish, spearguns or harpoons.]

8. Persons who are not citizens of the Syrian Arab Republic, and their boats, shall be prohibited from fishing in Public Waters save as otherwise authorized by the Minister of Agriculture, and this for such reasons as the need to undertake research, and to develop and build up the means of exploiting the wealth of the sea and other waters and increasing the resources thereof. This prohibition shall not apply to the nationals of other Arab countries or their boats, provided reciprocity is granted.

يحظر على غير رعايا الجمهورية العربية السورية ومراكبهم الصيد في المياه العامة إلا بشروط يحددها وزير الزراعة [It is prohibited for non-nationals of the Syrian Arab Republic and their boats to fish in Public Waters except under conditions set by the Minister of Agriculture.]

9. (a) All boats shall be required to hold an annual licence issued in the name of the charterer in the manner laid down herein ... (b) All shore fishermen shall be required to hold a personal annual licence which shall be granted in the manner laid down herein.

34. (a) The State shall encourage the population to study and carry on fishing, particular encouragement being given to adolescents and school children. (b) Amateur fishing shall be organized in such manner as to ensure that no harm is done to aquatic resources. Amateur fishermen may not sell their catches. 35. The Minister of Agriculture shall be required, in agreement with the competent services, to issue orders regulating amateur and club fishing and to fix the taxes to be paid for licences, provided that the annual amount to be levied for such licences shall not exceed Syrian £2 for individual permits and Syrian £100 for club permits. [This is the decree's only recreational/sport-fishing regime; it does not name spearfishing, spearguns or harpoons. Specific recreational gear rules are delegated to Ministerial Orders, none of which addressing spearfishing could be retrieved.]

28. Fishermen and fishing boats shall be prohibited from fishing, using methods or gear forbidden under this Legislative Decree and from using authorized means of fishing in an unauthorized manner. 30. Fishing methods shall not be such as to harm eggs or small fry, the consumption of which has no economic advantage. Fishing shall be confined to specified species of a specified size, the fishing of which is permitted. Methods of mass destruction, such as explosives and poisons, shall be strictly prohibited ... 31. Orders promulgated by the Minister of Agriculture shall determine the authorized fishing gear and the dimensions thereof. [Authorized gear and its dimensions are set by Ministerial Orders; spearguns/harpoons are neither named as authorized nor as prohibited in the decree itself.]

54. (a) Fishing by the use of explosives, poison, fascines and other means, the use of which is prohibited under any Orders issued subsequently hereto and promulgated by the Minister of Agriculture, shall be prohibited in Public Waters and in private waters adjacent thereto. Any methods of fishing, the characteristics and types of which are considered contrary to the methods laid down in such Orders, shall be considered prohibited. ... (c) All offenders against this article shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than six months and not more than three years and shall be subject to a fine of not less than Syrian £200 and not more than Syrian £1,000 and to confiscation of the boat and its gear and withdrawal of the licence.

يحظر الصيد في المياه العامة والمياه الخاصة المتصلة بالمياه العامة بالمتفجرات والسموم والحواجز والسدود والخناق والوسائل الأخرى التي تحرم استعمالها قرارات وزير الزراعة [Fishing in Public Waters and in private waters connected to Public Waters using explosives, poisons, barriers, dams, weirs and other means whose use is prohibited by decisions of the Minister of Agriculture is prohibited.]

أصدرت محافظة اللاذقية تعليمات تمنع صيد السمك بالسنارة في شاطئ اللاذقية [Latakia Governorate issued instructions prohibiting fishing with rod and line on the Latakia shore.] [Press report (18 Oct 2017) criticizing that authorities banned recreational rod-and-line fishing on the Latakia beach while destructive dynamite fishing reportedly continued; it does not mention spearfishing. Cited to show that local-level shore-fishing restrictions can be imposed and that the recreational sector is angling-centred.]