The Lebanon Water Festival closes the 2018 edition with the Arab Sport Fishing Championship. It was the first time it was ever held in Lebanon.
The bay of Jounieh was chosen for its underwater landscape particularities: depths of over 200 meters, reflecting the same scape as above water, and a number of shipwrecks and underwater caves that host large fish. This means that Jounieh bay hosts a important number of fish diversity and, without trailing too far away from shore, fisherman can easily reach great depth.
During this season, it is frequent to see Albacores, King Makerels ( Abou Sin) , Groupers, Bluefin Tunas, Amberjacks, Bonitos, and Skip Jacks, weighing from 1kg (net fishing) up to 20kg (gig/trail fishing).
On day one, the five teams – Kuwait Team 1, Kuwait Team 2, Oman, Tunisia and Lebanon left dock at 6am. They started with trolling and after 3 hours continued with the gigging and line fishing. “The sea has been calm for the past 2 weeks, these are tough conditions for all fisherman and a great challenge for the contestants”, said Georges Damian, sport coordinator. Indeed the harvest was low. Early afternoon, Oman forfeited as they came equipped for hunting larger fish than expected. As the Lebanon team enters the port first, deliberation starts. Kuwait Team 2 sets itself at the top of the championship with 4’600 g and a flute fish of 82cm, followed by Lebanon with 4’100 g, Kuwait Team 1 with 3’400 g, and Tunis with 1’500 g.
On day 2, the sea condition turned around bringing to the surface many fish with all 4 remaining teams bringing back larger fish than on the first day. Lebanon, fast but efficient, were first back to port once again on day 2. As the sea conditions shifted, this reshuffled the cards and Lebanon took the podium in first position as Champion of the Arab Sport Fishing in 2018 in two categories: Total Weight and Largest Fish.
Total weight: 15 600 gr
Largest fish by Nidal Fawaz: 3200 gr.
TOTAL WEIGHT
# 1 Lebanon : 15 600 gr
# 2 Kuwait Team 1 : 13 200 gr
# 3 Kuwait Team 2 : 11’050 gr
RUINS
# 1 Nidal FAWAZ – Lebanon : 3 200 gr
# 2 Ahmed AL SIYAR – Kuwait Team 2 : 3 000 gr
# 3 Mishal SAADOUN – Kuwait Team 1 : 1 130 gr
This event is a message for the protection of the marine environment and sea reserves in Lebanon. “We take this opportunity to thank Simon Khoury for helping in the success of such an event, and look forward to the participation of many more Arab and Lebanese teams in the future”, says Mohamad Oweidat, President of the Lebanese Sport Federation.
