Bahrain’s Muharraq Municipal Council has urged authorities to suspend penalties from fishermen moored their boats at unauthorized places due to a scarcity of berthing space at the kingdom’s largest fishing port.
Councillors unanimously approved an urgent motion on Monday to stop the penalties until a long-term solution was found for the problem, which left about 120 boats belonging to about 500 fishermen marked with violation notices.
A vehicle lift arrived at the jetty to haul away flagged vessels, with owners told they must pay BD80 in fines and towing fees to retrieve their boats from a storage facility at Raya Jetty.
Some fishermen, fearing confiscation, relocated their boats to roadside spots near Airport Highway, Isa Al Kabeer Avenue and nearby residential areas.
Council chairman Abdulaziz Al Naar, who submitted the proposal, said Bahrain’s three main jetties — Muharraq, Hidd and Raya — simply don’t offer enough space for the fleet that depends on them, calling for penalties to be replaced with real solutions.
He pointed to an undeveloped plot inside Muharraq Jetty that was handed to a private investor in 2007 for dock construction but has sat unused since, urging that it be reclaimed and turned into fishermen’s berths, with fees charged only if necessary.
Muharraq Jetty handles roughly 70 percent of Bahrain’s fishing activity, meaning any disruption could ripple through the kingdom’s seafood supply.
Fishermen’s representative Ali Al Hamad said many boats cannot simply stay moored indefinitely, since prolonged water exposure causes damage and costly repairs — leaving owners with few options when docking space runs short.
Al Hamad warned that rising operating costs, shifting fish migration patterns linked to warming waters, and now confiscation risk are compounding pressures that could push up prices further.
Local safi, he noted, already sells for BD7 per kilogram, compared with roughly BD4 for imported Omani fish, raising the prospect that consumers may increasingly turn to imports if the squeeze on local fishermen continues.
Following the vote, council members visited the jetty to meet affected fishermen and referred the issue to Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Minister Wael Al Mubarak, who has been asked to raise it with Oil and Environment Minister Dr Mohammed Bin Daina.
