By MOHAMMED AL A’ALI

MPs yesterday backed a nationwide strike by Bahrain’s fishermen and voted in favour of excluding them from paying monthly fees on expat workers.

All employers in Bahrain have had to pay BD10 every month for their foreign workers since the levy was introduced by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) last July.

That money goes into a fund to train unemployed Bahrainis but MPs approved an urgent proposal to waive those fees for fishermen during their session yesterday.

However, the fishermen would still have to pay the BD200 biennial fees for each expat worker upon renewing their employment visa.

MPs also agreed to issue a statement backing the fishermen’s demands – including protection for what’s left of the fishing industry.

They also called for amendments to Bahrain’s economic vision for 2030, saying the current version did not include plans for ports and fisheries.

Parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani will now hold an urgent meeting with fishermen today to discuss their problems.

“This is a very important sector and instead of being destroyed it should be helped to prosper,” he told MPs. “Unfortunately, the livelihoods of fishermen are being given away in return for massive developments.

“Our brothers deserve our support and we will do whatever we can to help them get their demands fulfilled.

MP Ibrahim Busandal, one of the main advocates for waiving labour fees for fishermen, claimed the current crisis had been in the making for the past eight years.

“They are being forced to fish in just 20 per cent of their fishing areas. No one has offered to listen to them and all they got were empty promises – this is why they went on strike, in the hope that people will realise their importance.”