(Communicated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection)
On June 17, 2008, Eilat's fish farms carried out the terms of cabinet decision 3688 dated June 5, 2005, which called on them to remove their fish cages from the Gulf of Eilat. The long process was accompanied by the Environmental Protection Ministry's Marine and Coastal Environment Division and Eilat's Marine Pollution Prevention Station and by the Ministry of Agriculture's Fishing Division.
One of the mariculture companies in question, Dag Suf, completed the process of removing the fish from its cages prior to the target date while the other, Ardag, removed the last fish from its fish cages on June 17, 2008.
The two mariculture companies in the Red Sea, Ardag and Dag Suf, were established in 1995 at the northern end of the Gulf of Eilat near the Jordanian border. A major increase in the quantity of feed supplied to the fish took place in 1998 and, in parallel, scientists discovered significant damage to Eila't coral reef. Scientific analyses of Gulf water samples in the area revealed a significant rise in nutrient load (nitrogen and phosphorous) in the deep waters.
Mariculture, or the cultivation of fish in the sea for commercial purposes, is associated with environmental impacts in the Red Sea due to the concentration of a very large quantity of fish, more than 2000 tons a year, in a limited area and a feeding rate of about 4200 tons a year.
Data by the Fishing Division of the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that such massive and regular enrichment of the Gulf Water by nutrients (in the feed and excrement of the fish) causes a chain reaction which leads to deterioration of marine water quality and acceleration of reef collapse, with its attendant impact on the biodiversity of marine life. These environmental impacts are especially significant in a region which is as sensitive and unique as the northern end of the Gulf of Eilat, whose sensitive ecosystem is particularly vulnerable to changes in water quality.
In light of these data, which indicate ecosystem deterioration in the Gulf of Eilat, the Ministry of Environmental Protection set itself a goal: to stop marine farming in the Gulf waters. In parallel, a wide-scale public campaign was launched to remove the cages from the water in order to save the unique coral reef in the Gulf of Eilat.
Milestones in the Process of Removing Eilat's Fish Cages:
• August 2002: Southern District Planning and Building Commission decides that the fish cages should be removed from the Gulf of Eilat..
• November 2002: National Planning and Building Board decides to approve the national master plan for Eilat's coasts without mariculture in the Gulf of Eilat.
• July 2004: Publication of the professional opinions of the chief scientists of Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Nature and Parks Authority claiming the coral reef in Eilat was severely damaged in recent years and identifying the fish cages as the main contributors to the pollution of the northern Gulf of Eilat.
• September 2004: Presentation of a preliminary International Expert Team (IET) report to the government. The bottom line: the fish cages should be removed from the Gulf of Eilat.
• October 2004: The Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Environmental Protection calls for removal of the fish cages from the Gulf waters based on the precautionary principle
• November 16, 2004: The National Planning and Building Board decides for the third time to remove the fish cages from the Gulf of Eilat within a maximum of 14 months. During this time no new fish are to be introduced to the Gulf waters.
• June 5, 2005: The government decides (cabinet decision 3688) to approve the master plan for Eilat's coast without including the fish cages and calls for their removal within three years, until June 2008.
• January 2007: The first fish cages are removed from the Gulf under the supervision and inspection of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Fishing Division of the Ministry of Agriculture.
• June 5, 2008: Last day in which feeding is permitted in the fish cages.
• June 17, 2008: The last fish is removed from the fish cages in the Gulf of Eilat.