The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and other international agreements have introduced management tools to improve fisheries management and
combat IUU fishing. However, management strategies of the fisheries sector in Yemen are still beyond the mainstream of modern fisheries policy. The lack of FMPs is attributed to the weak knowledge base of the resources, which is reflected in the unreliable statistics and unknown stock status. The legislation provides the basis of penalties for violations and penalties have being relatively strengthened by issuing the law no. 2/2006. However, infringement is still common,
compliance of fishermen is low or lacking, and enforcement of the laws and regulations is weak or absent. Although the law provides the minimum requirement to combat IUU fishing, the weak enforcement and prosecution procedures prevent the enforcement of the regulations and encourage non-compliance. The lack of compliance and
enforcement reveals the poor governance of the sector and reflects the widespread corruption among the policymakers, fishery managers, enforcement officers, monitoring personnel, and judiciary authorities. Therefore, for any future policy reforms, it will be necessary to consider introducing appropriate anti-corruption measures and policies
to improve transparency and accountability. Moreover, as the data on the resources are not available at the moment, the fishery managers need to adopt the precautionary approach widely, using the bestavailable information, including that related to traditional and indigenous knowledge. When the results from the research become available, management plans can be modified accordingly