One and a Half Million People Trapped between Land, Sea and Air

an article by Nina Fleury dated January 9th 2010 on closures and restrictions imposed onto the Gaza Strip. The lack of essential imports, coupled with the ban on exports, has brought 95% of Palestinian businesses to close. Poverty levels have reached an estimated 80%, while unemployment stands at over 42%. 75% of the Gazan population, representing more than 1.1 million persons, now lack food security, compared with 56 percent in 2008. Some 1 million Gazans depend on food provided by aid agencies

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has released this report in order to highlight the reality of life in the occupied Gaza Strip, and to illustrate the dramatic deterioration in the human rights situation brought about by 928 days of continuous illegal closure, as well as numerous offensives, incursions and attacks.

Gaza total fishing catch

Total fishing catch in tonnes month by month from June 2005 to November 2006 (p13)

Fisheries Data (marine and continental)

Source: the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
Date: 25 November 2005

Fisheries and Aquatic Organisms:

Fish: Data indicate that the number of fish species is 297, distributed as 12 species of fresh water, in Jordan River and other inland water ponds, 186 species are ancient Mediterranean Sea fish and 16 species, migrated from the Red Sea via Suez Canal.

Marine mollusca: The number of species of marine mollusca in territorial water of Gaza Strip is 477 distributed as 177 species settled in the Mediterranean Sea and 300 species migrated from the Red Sea via the Sues canal.

Fisheries: Number of species of fish and marine organisms which are fishable in the territorial water of Gaza Strip is 30, and annual fishing average is 3,303 tones. However this number does not reflect the actual quantity or fish diversity of fisheries because of a delineated allowed area by Israeli occupation for fishing and other Israeli countermeasures.