'Sand-locked Al Ashkharah harbour in Oman to be fixed soon'

Muscat: An accumulation of sand around an Oman fishing harbour is being monitored and solutions will be announced next year, according to a ministry spokesman.
The build-up of sand at the Al Ashkharah harbour is causing damage to fishing boats and delaying the landing of catches, according to local fishermen.
The entrance to the fishing harbour in Niyabat of Al Ashkharah in the Wilayat of Jala’an Bani Bu Ali has been dredged before, but the sands re-accumulate over time, according to a spokesman from the ministry.
“The problem is old and repetitive. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is still studying the possible solutions to the problem and the results will be announced next year,” a spokesman from the General Directorate of Fishing Harbours at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, said.
“The problem of the accumulation of sand at the entrance of port had begun four years after the completion of the harbour construction, and the fishing port was officially opened on December 22, 2004,” Mohammed Al Jafari from Al Ashkharah said.
“The port serves the citizens on the Al Ashkharah coast, as well as fishermen from the neighbouring coasts in the state, where the number of ships entering the harbour every day is about 150 fishing vessels and the small boats are no less than 100 fishing boats of various sizes,” Al Jafari said.
Al Jafari added: “The problem of the accumulation of sands caused various problems for port users, including damage to the ship’s structure, posed a danger to fishermen, especially in the summer season and delayed the process of landing fish so that some fish became rotten even before reaching the market. All of this leads to the fishermen avoiding using the port.”
The ministry spokesman explained that the problem occurs because of the seasonal winds from the north to the south, which transport sands that collide with the barriers of the port, leading to the accumulation of sand.
“The cost of maintenance depends on the amount of accumulated sand. Fishermen have proposed to the ministry to increase the depth of the harbour, but this solution is expensive,” the spokesmen added.
The ministry has also set up a plan to maintain the port periodically every four years, he added.
“In 2009, the ministry carried out complete maintenance of the Al Ashkharah harbour, during which we removed large amounts of sand. In 2016, we carried out another maintenance in which we removed just a small quantity of sand,” a spokesman from the General Directorate of Fishing Ports said.
“The ministry is seeking to find a radical solution to the issue. A tender was submitted and the consulting company presented a number of solutions, but the ministry postponed the decision to implement the proposed solutions for the region,” the spokesman added.
“Next year, we will announce the results of these studies and projects that will be implemented by the ministry to resolve the issue and develop the Al Ashkharah Harbour.”