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 best
available information, including that related to traditional and indigenous
knowledge. When the results from the research become
available, management plans can be modified accordingly