Erbil - Starting from May 1st through June 15 fishing is banned across Kurdistan, under instructions by the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.

The ban duration is the egg-laying season for fish. Within the few coming days the Ministry will also free 10,000 fish in Kurdistan rivers and lakes in a bid to increase fish resources, said Sirwan Saeed, general director for fish resources at the Ministry.

The Ministry has also decided to ban all sorts of fishing by the use of explosives and electricity forever, because they are destructive to marine life.

Saeed said the violators will be fined and their equipments will be confiscated. Police also files their violation and if the violation is repeated, they will face "harder punishments."

These decisions are to protect the fish resources in Kurdistan, Saeed added.

There are 293 fisheries in Kurdistan, occupying some 638,055 doums of land. However, only 163 fisheries are exploited and the rest are out of work. Despite the fisheries in the region, Kurdistan still imports fish.