ReseaRch PaPeR Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences 2023, 28(2): 18–27 DOI: 10.53541/jams.vol28iss2pp18-27 Received 19 December 2022 Accepted 30 April 2023 تقييم مصايد الباطنة فيما يتعلق ابلتنمية املستدامة بيئياً ابستخدام هنج القرار متعدد املعايري هدى السيايب1,* وحسني املسروري2 An Assessment of Al Batinah Fishery with Respect to Ecologically Sustainable Development Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach Huda Al Siyabi1,* and Hussain Al Masroori2 Huda Al Siyabi1,* ( )HudaKhalfan@hotmail.com, 1Economic and De- velopment Sector, A’Shura Council, Sultanate of Oman, 2 Department of Marine Science and Fisheries, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman. Introduction The recognition of the concept of sustainability is a critical need in order to manage any sector including fisheries (Michael et al., 2014). It had a notable discussion during the last few decades since it concerns the principles of conserving all natural re- sources for the current and future generation needs. Fisheries management’s thoughts raised globally as a result of the growing of fishery sector importance for human life in providing food, employment, income etc. Therefore, several frameworks were developed to assess the progress toward sustainable development (Coll et al., 2013; FAO, 1999; Fletcher et al., 2005; Levrel et al., 2009). One of these frameworks is the Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) framework, which is used in this study. ESD framework structure is similar to the general sustainable development framework which reflects the human and environmental components (FAO 1999). It represents the effects of fishing activities on human and Abstract. Globally, sustainable development is considered as a vital need to fisheries sector that integrated both human and environmental well-beings. This issue was recognised by the Omani government therefore, it started to promote the fishery management system by establishing new fisheries development plans and management policies to achieve the sustainable development goals. This study aimed at assessing the progress of Al Batinah fishery towards sustainable development using Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) framework and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis approach (MCDA) from 2008 to 2017. A consultation review was conducted to identify all possible compo- nents (criteria) of the ESD framework. Progress of each component toward sustainability and sensitivity analysis were conducted to identify strengths and weaknesses of components. Attainment toward sustainability in Al Batinah fishery progressed a positive trend. Scores increased from 50 points (on 100 points scale) in year 2009 to 81 points in year 2016. Specifically, the progress toward sustainability in the human well-being was better. The scores increased from 55 points in year 2009 to 95 points in year 2016 indicating excellent progress. However, the progress toward sustainability in the environmental well-being was minimal. The scores increased from 42 points in year 2008 to only 67 points in the last three years 2015 to 2017 indicating a slow and a below average progress. The results indicated that the year 2016 had the best attainment toward sustainability and the management measures and/or practices adopted in 2016-favoured socio-economic development more than conserving the environment. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that year 2016 was the most preferred year and provided different strengths and weaknesses to improve both human and environmental well-beings and consequently improving the progress toward sustainability. The management authority is therefore advised to adapt conservative measures to promote and protect the environment. In the long-term, such preferences of human well-being over environment might threaten the whole fishery. Keywords: Fisheries sustainable development, Sensitivity analysis, ESD framework, Al Batinah Fishery امللخــص: علــى الصعيــد العاملــي، تعتــر التنميــة املســتدامة حاجــة حيويــة لقطــاع مصايــد األمســاك الــذي يدمــج الرفــاه البشــري والبيئــي. مت إدراك هــذه القضيــة مــن قبــل احلكومــة العمانيــة، لذلــك بــدأت يف تعزيــز نظــام إدارة مصايــد األمســاك مــن خــال وضــع خطــط جديــدة لتنميــة مصايــد األمســاك، وسياســات اإلدارة لتحقيــق أهــداف التنميــة املســتدامة. هدفــت هــذه الدراســة إىل تقييــم التقــدم احملــرز يف مصايــد الباطنــة حنــو التنميــة املســتدامة ابســتخدام إطــار التنميــة املســتدامة بيئيًــا)ESD( وهنــج حتليــل القــرار متعــدد املعايــر )MCDA( مــن 2008 إىل 2017. مت إجــراء مراجعــة استشــارية لتحديــد مجيــع املكــوانت )املعايــر( املمكنــة إلطــار )ESD(. مت إجــراء تقييــم التقــدم حنــو االســتدامة وحتليــل احلساســية لــكل مكــون لتحديــد نقــاط القــوة والضعــف يف املكــوانت. أظهــر التقــدم حنــو االســتدامة يف مصايــد الباطنــة اجتاهــا إجيابيــا. زادت الدرجــات مــن 50 نقطــة )علــى مقيــاس 100 نقطــة( يف عــام 2009 إىل 81 نقطــة يف عــام 2016. علــى وجــه التحديــد، كان التقــدم حنــو االســتدامة يف رفاهيــة اإلنســان أفضــل. ارتفعــت الدرجــات مــن 55 نقطــة يف عــام 2009 إىل 95 نقطــة يف عــام 2016 ممــا يشــر إىل تقــدم ممتــاز. ومــع ذلــك، كان التقــدم حنــو االســتدامة يف الرفــاه البيئــي ضئيــًا. ارتفعــت الدرجــات مــن 42 نقطة يف عام 2008 إىل 67 نقطة فقط يف آخر ثاث ســنوات )2015-2017( مشــراً إىل تقدم بطيء وأقل من املتوســط. أشــارت النتائج إىل أن عــام )2016( حقــق أفضــل املكاســب حنــو االســتدامة وأن تدابــر اإلدارة و / أو املمارســات املعتمــدة يف عــام 2016 كانــت لصــاحل التنميــة االجتماعيــة واالقتصاديــة أكثــر مــن احلفــاظ علــى البيئــة. أكــد حتليــل احلساســية أن عــام 2016 كان العــام األكثــر تفضيــًا وقــدم نقــاط قــوة ونقــاط ضعــف خمتلفــة لتحســني رفاهيــة اإلنســان والبيئــة وابلتــايل حتســني التقــدم حنــو االســتدامة. لذلــك، تُنصــح الســلطة اإلداريــة بتكييــف تدابــر حتفظيــة لتعزيــز البيئــة ومحايتهــا. حيــث أنــه وعلــى املــدى الطويــل، قــد هتــدد تفضيــات رفاهيــة اإلنســان علــى البيئــة املصايــد أبكملهــا. الكلمات املفتاحية: التنمية املستدامة ملصايد األمساك، حتليل احلساسية، إطارالتنمية املستدامة بيئياً، مصايد الباطنة 19Research Paper Al Siyabi, Al Masroori environment. In addition, ESD framework establishes the hierarchy structure of components, in which each component in the framework can be subdivided further into several criteria or indicators (FAO 1999). Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is used to provide a method of scoring alternative decision in term of their importance of various preferences (Stoy- cheva et al. 2018). Moreover, MCDA provides an overall ordering options, from the most preferred to the least preferred option (Communities 2000). These options are differing in the extent and they achieve the objectives and no option will be the best in achieving all objectives (Communities 2000). MCDA methods involve several theories; one of them is called Analytical Hierarchy Pro- cess (AHP) that is adopted in this study. Oman is char- acterized as poor fisheries data available (Al Masroori and Bose, 2016; 2021), MCDA can deal with incomplete data and uncertain information to give the overall trend of sustainability. In addition, the hierarchical structure provided by AHP method will facilitate the compari- son between the ecological aspects with socio econom- ic ones at the same framework (Mendoza and Martins 2006). Hiview software (Catalyze 2003) is also used in the cur- rent study to solve large and complex MCDA problems (Communities 2000). It allows the value tree to be vi- sually created and edited. The top of it called the Root Node, where all data in the model is collated. Out of the Root Node there are branches that represent the objec- tives. The criteria are structured under the nodes: effects on human and effects on environment (Catalyze 2003; Al Masroori 2008). Further information can be found in the reference by Catalyze (2003). In the current study, Hiview software is hired to assess the progress of each component toward sustainability and to conduct sensi- tivity analysis in order to identify strengths and weak- nesses of all identified components that contribute pos- itively or negatively to the progress of both human and environmental well-beings toward sustainability. All components were weighted equally. Thus, the two main categories of the framework had been given a weight of 50%. Each component under the main cate- gory had given a weight also. Then, for each indicator a preferred score was selected and the standardize index was calculated for each component. Thus, the weight summation for any component is the average of its crite- Figure 1. ESD hierarchical structure for Al Batinah fishery generated by Hiview software 20 SQU Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, 2023, Volume 28, Issue 2 An Assessment of Al Batinah Fishery with Respect to Ecologically Sustainable Development Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach ria weight. Then, the weight summation was determined for each component for the two main categories (Ches- son et al 1999). Therefore, the same weight was given for each criterion under the same component assuming an equal consideration toward human and environmental well-being. This software analysis provides some signs about the criteria sensitivity for weight change. The aim of this study was to assess the sustainability progress of Al Batinah fishery using MCDA. The Sultanate of Oman is a coastal country with a long coastline that stretches about 3126 km long. Therefore, fishing is an old and important occupation in Oman’s communities and contributes to the public economy and fishermen income especially as Oman is considered one of the largest fish producers and exporters in the region (FAO 2019). Oman’s fisheries produced around 840,000 tons of fish in 2020 and exported around 283,000 tones out of the total landing. Moreover, fishing sector plays a vital role in providing a food source, employing peo- ple and contributing to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Fishing activity in Oman depends fun- damentally on marine capture, which provides around 94% of the total landing produced by traditional fishery (MAF 2020). On the other hand, fishing sector’s contri- bution to the country’s GDP is still weak. It did not ex- ceed 0.9% only in 2019 (MAF 2020) and it is obvious that this sector needs an advance management and assessing the sustainability of the traditional fishery in Oman and it should be a prime concern for the fisheries authority. In this regard, this paper takes Al Batinah Governorate as a case study due to the availability of data compared to other governorates and for its contribution to the Omani artisanal fishery landing. Among all other eleven governorates, Al Batinah came in the fourth place after Al Wusta, Sharqiah and Dhofar according to its con- tribution (10%) to the total landing (MAF2020). It has more than (14,500) fishermen working on about 6300 boats (MAF 2020). The most important fishes caught in Al Batinah are yellowfin tuna, longtail tuna, sardine and anchovy (MAF 2020). Furthermore, Al Batinah has a unique characteristic, which are the artificial reefs. They were deployed in 2003 as a trial to boost the declined fisheries sector and enhance the ecosystem in the region. Methodology To assess the progress of Al Batinah fishery toward sus- tainability, a modified version of the ESD framework de- veloped by Chesson and Clayton (1998) was followed. The modification was done through a consultation review was designed and discussed with the stakeholders. Con- sulting key stakeholders to identify the issues of the base ESD framework is a vital step to ensure that the context of the ESD framework tree would be functional with- in Al Batinah fisheries sector. The consultation helped in identifying all possible components of the hierarchi- cal structure, maximizing consistency and minimizing the chance of missing any issues or impacts (positive or negative) and gaining the acceptance of all stakeholders. The modified ESD framework was distributed and explained personally with 19 experts covering different levels of fisheries stakeholders; 8 academics, 6 managers and 5 researchers in the field with a response rate of 58%. As shown in the Figure 1, framework has two main com- ponents, namely the effects on human and the effects on environment. These two components were further divid- ed into sub- components, which were identified through the consultation meetings with stakeholders. The speci- fied objectives and indicators with their preferred trends and reference points developed by Al Masroori and Bose (2009; 2014), following FAO (1999) technical specifica- tions, were used as basis in this study (Tables 1 and 2). The objectives were specified with respect to the nation- al regulations and international legislation and conven- tions in the Sultanate. Data was obtained from fisheries statistical books from MAF (2008 – 2017), the Statistical Department in MAF, the Directorate General of Fisher- ies in Al Batinah and the National Centre for Statistics and Information (Tables 3, 4 and 5). In addition to that, the weighted summation method (Al Masroori, 2008) was followed to evaluate the prog- ress toward sustainability over the study period 2008 to 2017). For the current study, the same weight was given for each criterion under the same component assuming an equal consideration toward human and environmen- tal well-being. The best value given for each indicator was depending on the objective specified for it. The score for any component of the ESD tree was deter- mined to be as the weight sum of the sub-components belongs to it using the following formula (Chesson and Clayton 1998): (1) Where: j represents ESD component, i represents time, wj the weight for component j, ujj is the score for com- ponent j in year i. As mentioned earlier, all components were weighted equally. Thus, the two main catego- ries of the framework had been given a weight of 50%. Each component under the main category had given a weight also. Then, for each indicator a preferred score was selected and the standardize index was calculated for each component. Thus, weight summation for any component is the average of its criteria weight. Then, weight summation was determined for each component for the two main categories (Chesson et al. 1999). For each component in the ESD framework, weight average for each year of the study period was calculated using 21Research Paper Al Siyabi, Al Masroori Table 1. Indicators used for each component of the effects of Al Batinah fisheries on Human during the period (2008 – 2017) Component Objective Indicator Required Data Food • Total catch in Al Batinah per year Nutrition Enhancement of food security from fishing sector Fish per capita (kg) • Total population in Oman Variety Increase the number of species come from Al Batinah fishery Total number of species caught in Al Batinah (mt) • Annual total number of species caught in Al Batinah Marketed Domestic Increase the local consumption of Al Batinah fishery production Total amount of Al Batinah fishery consumed locally (mt) • Annual percentage of Al Batinah fishery production consumed locally Export Decrease the exported amount of Al Batinah fishery production Total amount of Al Batinah fishery exported (mt) • Annual percentage of Al Batinah fishery production exported Income Individual Increase fishers’ income Annual income of Al Batinah local fishers (OR) • Annual catch value gained by local fishers National Improve country income Annual contribution of Al Batinah fishery to the country GDP (OR) • Fishers licenses fees • Boats licenses fees • Tracks licenses fees • Fishing institutions fees • Fishing gear fees • Artificial reef fees • Technicians on vessels fees Life style Fishers Enhancement of fishers’ lifestyle Number of boats owned by fishermen • Number of boats owned by fisher- men each year Community Enhancement of communities’ lifestyle Number fishing tracks in Al Batinah • Annual number of fishing tracks in Al Batinah Employment Direct Increase the number of Al Batinah local fishers Total number of local fishers in Al Batinah • Annual total number of Al Batinah local fishers Figure 2. A) Nutrition criterion data (kg), B) Preference values of nutrition criterion for food component, and C) Weight scores and contributions of food component 22 SQU Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, 2023, Volume 28, Issue 2 An Assessment of Al Batinah Fishery with Respect to Ecologically Sustainable Development Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach Hiview Software. The results were examined using Hiview software © version 3.2.0.9 (a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis tool) to evaluate the progress of Al Batinah fishery toward sustainability (2008 – 2017). MCDA approach is used to reduce the complexity of data in this study using the Hiview software. In addition, Microsoft Excel software was used for some basic calculations. For further investigation of the overall results, sensi- tivity analysis was used to determine the most sensitive criteria for weight change. This type of analysis could help decision-makers to predict the future scenario for the current situation and consequently, they can change their actions to maintain the suitable status of the fishery. For the current study, sensitivity analysis was carried out to investigate the preferred year within the study period and its strength and weakness. More details about sen- sitivity analysis can be obtained in (Al Masroori, 2008). Results and Discussion The ESD framework of Al Batinah Fishery was developed and analyzed following the steps addressed by Chesson and Clayton (1998) and Communities (2000). The final framework used in this study is shown in Figure 1 as built by the Hiview. It is worth noting that some compo- nents in the ESD hierarchical structure were eliminated from the analysis due to the unavailability of represen- tative data such as pollution, seascape, fish biodiversity and post-harvest indicators. This is considered as a lim- itation to this study and hence the concerned authori- Table 2. Indicators used for each component of the effects of Al Batinah fisheries on Environment during the period (2008 – 2017) Component Objective Indicator Required Data Primary commercial species Abundance of target species Control the target species catch to preserve them against over-ex- ploitation Landings (mt) Total catch of target species per year Non- target species Discard Minimize the amount of discarded fish in Al Batinah Annual amount of discarded fish in Al Batinah (mt) • Total annual amount of discarded fish in Al Batinah Other aspects Artificial reef Enhancement of fish biodiversity in Al Batinah Number of artificial reef units deployed in Al Batinah • Annual total number of artificial reef units deployed in Al Batinah Table 3. Data and preferred score of effect on human component indicators Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Pre- ferred score Nutrition (kg) per capita fish consumption 3.528 3.072 3.830 3.345 4.248 4.338 4.778 4.808 4.796 5.288 5.288 Food variety (H) Shannon Diversity Index 87.51 96.57 100.00 93.98 93.93 95.72 97.85 98.48 98.18 98.96 100.00 Domestic Market (mt) Catch consumed locally 19197.1 18727.7 20592.2 21370.1 29840.9 33101.9 36213.7 35098.8 41910.5 48229.2 48229.2 Export (mt) Catch exported outside the Governorate 1444.9 1195.4 1083.8 1124.8 1570.6 1023.8 2725.8 5713.8 1296.2 984.3 984.3 Individual income (000 OMR) Catch value gained by local fishers 14 19 19 24 37 42 47 43 51 56 56 National income (OMR) Contribution of Al Batinah fisheries to the country GDP 38488.9 33717.5 55164.9 39597.3 49743.9 63901.2 40289.6 39540.5 68107.5 74687 74687 Fishers lifestyle (boat) Number of boats owned by local fishers 4704 4080 4796 4852 5025 5294 5754 5996 6087 6144 6144 Community lifestyle (licenses) Number of tracks licences issued for fish transporting and marketing 470 500 557 575 601 629 719 780 1636 897 1636 Direct Employment (Omani) Number of local fishers 12036 8764 10028 10887 11943 12675 13166 13546 13834 14216 14216 23Research Paper Al Siyabi, Al Masroori ties are recommended to start gathering such important information. Tables 1 and 2 show the criteria, objectives, indicators and required data used for the case study analyses (Al Masroori and Bose, 2009). Food component will be taken as an example to explain the process of an- alyzing. As shown in Table 1, food component was clas- sified into three sub-components: nutrition, food variety and marketed which were divided further into: domes- tic market and export. Per capita fish consumption was used as an indicator for nutrition sub-component. The Table 4. Data and preferred score of effect on environment component indicators Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Pre- ferred score Primary commercial species (mt) Total catch of primary commer- cial species 20642 19923 21676 22495 31411 34126 38939 40813 43207 49213 49213 Discard (mt) Total discarded fish 206.42 199.23 216.76 224.95 314.11 341.26 389.39 408.13 432.07 492.13 0 Artificial reef (unit) Total number of artificial reef 1374 1874 2374 4774 5174 5294 5294 5358 5358 5358 5358 Table 5. Total catch and the amounts of total catch consumed locally and exported (mt) (2008 – 2017) Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total catch (mt) 20642 19923 21676 22494.842 31411.442 34125.657 38939.454 40812.603 43206.676 49213.499 Amount used in domestic market (mt) 19197.06 18727.62 20592.20 21370.10 29840.87 33101.89 36213.69 35098.84 41910.48 48229.23 Amount export (mt) 1444.9 1195.4 1083.8 1124.742 1570.572 1023.7697 2725.7618 5713.7644 1296.2003 984.2699 Number of species 36 37 37 37 36 36 38 37 38 37 Figure 3. Weight scores and criteria contributions of effect on; A) human component, B) environmental component and, C) from both human and environment components 24 SQU Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, 2023, Volume 28, Issue 2 An Assessment of Al Batinah Fishery with Respect to Ecologically Sustainable Development Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach trend for the nutrition sub-component indicator is pre- ferred to be positive. Figures 2A and 2B show standard- ized data and scoring process relative to the preferred value of the nutrition sub-component. It is clear from Figure 2 that the highest score 100 was assigned to the year 2017 with the value of 5.288 kg. All other prefer- ence values were relative to 2017. On the other hand, the lowest score (58.094) which assigned the value (3.072) was recorded in 2009. More explanation about figures reading can be found in (Al Masroori and Bose, 2014). All other sub-components of food component were analyzed following the same way and then, weighted summation method was applied for all food’s sub-com- ponents. As it was mentioned earlier, all food criteria have the same weight so, no preference of one criteri- on over another. Figure 2C represents the data, weight scores and the contribution of each criterion for each year. It is clear that the best food trend was achieved in 2017 when most of the food sub-components achieved the peak. The year 2017 was characterized by the higher level of total catch during the study period, which affects all food components positively. The same steps were followed in analyzing all other components in the ESD framework to examine the progress toward sustainability. Overall Results As shown in Figure 3A, year 2016 scored the highest preferred value of 95 for the effect on human. While year 2009 scored the lowest as 55. On the other hand, Fig- ure 3B shows that the years 2015 (with 2016 and 2017) scored the highest preferred value as 67 for the effect on environment and 2008 scored the lowest value of 42. A similar trend (increasing) is almost happening in both dimensions. This is supported by the overall compara- tive assessment between human and environment com- ponents, where year 2016 scored the highest preferred value of 81, with a major contribution from the human components (Figure 3C). Generally, the results of this study indicated that higher priority was given by the government toward the human benefits in 2016 and the management policies applied favored what is considered as a short-term ben- efit. In general, all human components were improved from 2008 to 2017 due to the concentration of the gov- ernment on the sector as one of the promising economic sectors in the country. It is allocating 500 million OMR to support the Strategic Plan for the Development of the Fishing Sector from 2013 to 2020, which has been imple- mented by the Ministry of Fishery (MAF). It is obvious that all the National Fisheries Develop- ment Strategy from 2013 to 2020 are concentrated to- ward human benefits. By 2020 the total landing in Oman was around 840,000 tonnes (MAF, 2020) and there were around 60 fish markets and 26 harbors (MAF, 2020) around the country to meet the national strategy ob- jectives. Although no single objective has been related to the environmental protection or stocks conserva- tion in the Strategy. Environmental well-being was also Figure 4. Most preferred year (sensitivity down) 25Research Paper Al Siyabi, Al Masroori progressing in an increasing trend but not as well as in human well-being (Figure 3). This study shows a similar trend of favoring the human wellbeing over the envi- ronmental wellbeing that was also found in Al Masroori and Bose (2021) for an industrial fishery. This indicates a similarity in the management strategies for traditional and industrial fisheries and a little change in the man- agement structure. Sensitivity Analysis Based on the overall results shown in Figure 3C, the most preferred year was 2016 followed by 2017. Figure 4 con- firms this by sensitivity down analysis. The figure lists the criteria at the middle and different coloured bars indicate which criteria are the most sensitive for weight change. Figure 4 shows that 2017 could override year 2016 if the weights of food variety, fishers’ lifestyle and artificial reefs are increased by more than 15 points. Also, it is clear that 2017 could override the year 2016 if the weights of direct employment, export, nutrition, individual income and national income are increased between 5-15 points. On the other hand, the same figure shows that 2017 can override the year 2016 if the weights of domestic mar- ket and primary commercial species are increased by less than 5 points and the weights of community life- style and discards are decreased by less than 5 points. Figures 5A and 5B are called sort graphs that are used usually to compare the performance of two options (years) and examines the strengths and weaknesses in any options. Figure 5A shows the weakness of the most preferred year 2016. It is clear that most of the weak components of year 2016 are in the environmen- tal sector especially in discards and primary commer- cial species. Discard component contributed a lot to the weakness of the most preferred year. On the other hand, it gained its strength from both environmental sides in artificial reefs and primary commercial spe- cies along with human components dominated by di- rect employment, lifestyle component, income com- ponent, and nutrition and food variety of the food component (Figure 5 B). Generally, it can be stated that the year 2016 was stronger in human sides and short-term benefits than conserving the environment. A similar further analysis was done to investigate the human component using sensitivity up analysis, Figure 6A shows that the year 2016 is the most preferred year for the effect on human component and it is very clear that decreasing the weight to almost 0% will only change the year to 2017. Sensitivity analysis was also applied for environmental component as shown in Figure 6B. It can be seen that 2016 is also the most preferred year for the effect on environment component and only year 2017 can override the year 2016 if the weight of the effect of environment component is increased to almost 100% as shown by the shaded area in Figure 6B. These trends (the dominance of the year 2016 over all other years indicate that the management measures practiced in year 2016 Figure 5. A) Weaknesses and B) Strength of the most preferred year (2016) 26 SQU Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, 2023, Volume 28, Issue 2 An Assessment of Al Batinah Fishery with Respect to Ecologically Sustainable Development Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach were the best among the investigated year. Conclusion The progress of Al Batinah fishery toward sustainabili- ty showed a positive trend. The results revealed that the year 2016 had the best attainment toward sustainability. Generally, the above results indicated that the manage- ment measures practiced in 2016 were the best in terms of human components and short-term benefits (food, in- come, lifestyle and employment) rather than conserving the environment. This give an indication that the man- agement authority was preferring the human well-being over the environmental well-being, which means it is progressing away from sustainable development. Sen- sitivity analysis confirmed that year 2016 was the most preferred year in the assessment between year 2008 and 2017 and the year 2017 could override it if some criteria weights have been changed. Recommendations Based on the main findings and limitations encoun- tered in this research, the following recommendations are proposed to promote the sustainable development of the fisheries sector in Oman in general: (i) Accurate and specific data representing fishery indicators like: post-harvest data, pollution, sea scape etc in the sector is a critical need for better assessment. (ii) The qualified fishery indicators such as fish biodiversity are import- ant to be considered by the fishery authority. (iii) More attention needs to be applied to the environmental well-being like: preserving stocks, reduce pollution lev- el and minimize the destruction of marine habitats in preparing the future Fisheries Strategic Plans. (iv) Estab- lishing a unit to organize and coordinate the joint work between MAF and EA (Environment Authority) might strengthen the environmental protection and therefore enhance the sustainability. References Al-Masroori HS. (2008). 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