Pensioners and unemployed Bahrainis who moonlight as fishermen could get official licences.

However, they have to be registered with the Bahrain Fishermen Society, said Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Minister Essam Khalaf yesterday (February 17).

There are currently more than 2,000 licensed fishermen and hundreds of amateurs in Bahrain, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

"We are always looking for solutions to obstacles facing fishermen," he said.

"So suggestions that we may revoke licences from those who have them are untrue and we have no intentions ever to remove them in future.

"The fishing licences are permanent within the ministry and we are always working to help professional fishermen.

"However, pensioners and unemployed people who work as fishermen have to be members of the Bahrain Fishermen Society and if they are official members then it is a legally-binding obligation to grant them licences, since they come under the professional fishermen category, which makes them eligible." - TradeArabia News Service