SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF MULLET FARMING

Social impacts

Although a small number of people are involved in seed collection, it is an important economic and social activity. The rapidly growing aquaculture industry in Egypt depends largely on mullet production, which accounted in 2005 for about 29 percent of the production and 48 percent of the market value of cultured fish (GAFRD, 2006). Aquaculture presently employs more than 300 000 persons and supports an additional 450 000 jobs in complimentary activities (fish feed production, transport, marketing, processing, etc.). Limiting or discontinuing mullet production will affect the economy of the semi-intensive aquaculture industry, a critical component of Egyptian aquaculture.

The development of pond aquaculture created a new competitive seed market. Before the mid-1980s, most of the wild-caught seed were used by the government for restocking programmes of inland lakes. Fry were collected at a single government station near Alexandria from 1926–1984. During the early days of aquaculture development, common carp and mullet were the major cultured species in Egypt while tilapia was considered only a bycatch crop accounting for 10–25 percent of the production.
The increase demand for mullet seed resulted in the establishment of nine additional fry collecting stations along the Mediterranean coast from 1986–1987, marking the beginning of organized mullet fry fisheries.
Mullet seed collection is carried out by groups of artisanal fishers which often include people from the same village or district and frequently involve members of the same family. Each group may consist of 6–10 persons working under a team leader who generally oversees more than one group. In 2005, 460 registered fry collecting fishers were working in eight major government stations (6 in the Northern Delta and two in Suez Canal region).
Fisher groups work grounds allocated by the authority in their home range and supervised by the government fry collection station in the area. The team leader is usually someone with a strong influence on the group members and is usually a head of a local cooperative or a large fishing family. The team leader is responsible for nominating group members, collecting fishing licenses and other documents required by the competent authorities to issue the work permits. The team leader is also responsible for delivering the collected seed through the official channels and is in charge of bookkeeping and recording all catch.

The earnings of each group member differ according to their role. The work is divided into three tasks; the first is the fishing operation itself, which requires 4–6 fishers to spread and pull the seine net. The second task involves the transport of the buckets which requires 1–2 younger, less skilled persons. The third task is the sorting, cleaning and counting the catch, which is usually done by the most experienced in the group. This latter task involves the removal of weak, injured, dead or unwanted species from the hapa or shore tank and counting the fry. The money earned by the group is divided into equal shares; members of the third group gets three shares per person, while those of the first group get two shares per person and members of the less skilled second group get one share per person.
Illegal gangs of fishers are involved in fry collection mostly outside the territory covered by the authorized teams even though they frequently invade these territories to find better stocks. Illegal fishers are well organized and usually reach the fishing ground in the early hours of

Figure 18
A pickup truck carrying illegally caught mullet fry

the morning before the arrival of the authorized fishers and working in teams of four to five persons. The collected fry are stocked in pickups and sold directly to the owners of unlicensed farms or to fish farmers who are not satisfied with their government allocated quota (Figure 18). The number of fishers working in the illegal seed fisheries, transport and marketing is not known.
A group of seed fishers can earn between US$1–1.2 million/year. This money is tax free and is distributed by the team leaders according to the share distribution system described above. Seed fishers, although rich, are considered as lower middle class by city people based on their education and cultural levels, but they are considered as the elites in their lagoon fisher communities.

Economic issues

Aquaculture is the fastest growing fisheries sector in Egypt and mullet aquaculture is an important contributing component (Salem and Saleh, 2004). Land-based aquaculture in Egypt is labor intensive and employs a large number of people with different technical skills. This economic activity is characterized by high returns on the initial investment even though profits have declined following the rise in production during the last five years. This type of aquaculture has prompted an important restructuring of the fish farming communities and production systems.
Traditional aquaculture was practised by fishers over extensive wetlands and brackish water lakes owned by the government. The activity was primitive; it required a low investment input and generated a low production per unit area. Furthermore, the work was carried out exclusively by members of the family, with limited numbers of part time workers were hired during harvest or preparation for the new season. As a result of extension programmes supported by the government and the increased demand for fish, aquaculture was rediscovered by a new generation of well educated investors with professional backgrounds. As a result, technically advanced aquaculture systems were introduced, such as semi-intensive and intensive pond aquaculture on traditional aquaculture land or purchased from the government. These lease arrangements usually included an agreement to pay a certain amount of money to the inhabitants of the farmed areas, which in turn was used by traditional farmers to modernize their own farming activities.
The development and growth of aquaculture sector in Egypt was not possible without mullet as an important cash crop. Wild seed fisheries are a year around activity. The sequence of spawning times for the different target species (mullet, meagre, European seabass and gilthead seabream) makes fry collection a full-time activity and involves numerous groups of fishers. Based on official data each fisher earns US$1 900–2 700/year, an income higher than the average annual per capita income in Egypt (about US$1 700 in 2006).