Before We Put the Red Sea’s Resources Out to Tender… Do We Know What We Own and What It Is Worth?

Adel Al-Rifai Abu Al-Hassan
Reports have circulated online about an agreement to put Sudan’s tuna quota in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean out to tender. If the reports are accurate, the discussion should not be confined to whether the tender procedures are sound, or whether standards of integrity, transparency and international best practice are being observed. These are important matters, but they come after a much bigger question:
Do we know what we own before we put it out to tender?
Here, the government must stop looking for the easiest and quickest ways to raise money, particularly when doing so comes at the expense of the resources themselves. The need for revenue should not drive the state to rush into offering its resources for exploitation before completing the studies necessary to determine their scale, value and sustainable limits.
The state may earn revenue today from a resource that has not been properly studied, while it could potentially generate far greater value if it first understood that resource, assessed it properly and managed and marketed it effectively. The question should therefore be: what is the true value of this resource, and how can Sudan derive the greatest sustainable return from it?
The Red Sea is not merely about tuna, nor is it simply a fisheries resource. Sudan’s coastline extends for more than 700 kilometres, and its economic waters contain extensive marine, biological, and natural resources: fish, crustaceans, shellfish, and coral reefs, alongside potential mineral, petroleum, and other resources.
The coral reefs along Sudan’s coast possess unique characteristics that make them among the region’s most important and diverse marine environments. They also display a remarkable capacity to adapt to rising water temperatures compared with many other coral ecosystems. These reefs are not merely part of the marine environment; they are a sovereign resource of environmental, economic, tourism, scientific and medical value. They support immense biodiversity, provide breeding and nursery grounds for fish, serve as natural barriers protecting the coastline, and their organisms and components may offer opportunities for pharmaceutical and medical industries.
This raises a question no less important than the question of fishing itself: do we possess the technologies, systems, laws and monitoring mechanisms needed to ensure that fishing or any other economic activity does not damage this resource or diminish its value?
The correct starting point, therefore, is not to issue a tender, but to understand the resource’s nature and value. We need a comprehensive and up-to-date strategic marine survey identifying the resources in our waters, where they are located, their types, estimated quantities, ages and characteristics, their economic value, their capacity for regeneration, and the limits within which they can be safely exploited.
It is not enough simply to know that fish or coral reefs exist. We need to understand their value, importance and potential uses, including whether certain species have nutritional, pharmaceutical or industrial value, and what value-added industries could be developed from them. The technical details, of course, are a matter for specialists, who are best placed to determine them.
Based on such knowledge, we can determine how fishing should be conducted: how much may be caught, where and when, for how long, which areas should be open to fishing, which require protection, and how monitoring and enforcement should be carried out.
A tender is not merely a figure and a duration written into a document. It must be based on the resource’s capacity to regenerate, so that investment does not turn into depletion that threatens particular species or the marine environment.
This brings us to a fundamental issue: authority without the tools to exercise it is not enough.
If fisheries and fisheries research authorities have the power to grant fishing licences, they must also possess genuine monitoring and enforcement capabilities. They need to know which vessels are entering and leaving, where fishing is taking place, how much is being caught, whether licence conditions are being observed, whether coral reefs and sensitive areas are being protected, and whether prohibited fishing methods are being prevented.
This requires capable institutions, trained personnel, modern technology, up-to-date databases and agencies equipped to conduct continuous monitoring.
Here we return to a principle we have previously raised regarding the management of Sudan’s resources: before the state entrusts a service to the private sector, it must first understand, prepare, build capacity, establish laws and regulations, and develop effective oversight mechanisms. Only then should it allow the private sector to provide the service or undertake the investment under clearly defined conditions.
The private sector, whether Sudanese or foreign, can bring financing, expertise and technology. But knowledge, sovereignty, legislation, oversight and the protection of the resource remain the responsibility of the state.
Sudan has experiences whose methodology deserves study, including the Merowe Dam project and its approach to studies, measurements, and data collection related to water resources. The point is not to replicate a water-resource model literally in the marine sector, but to draw on a fundamental principle: understand the resource, measure it, monitor how it changes, and build your database before making decisions.
What is required, therefore, is not merely a study of tuna, but a national marine exploration and survey programme that uses the latest equipment and technologies, draws on Sudanese expertise both at home and abroad, and engages specialised consultancy firms where necessary. Such a programme should identify, assess, and value Sudan’s fisheries, biological, coral, mineral, and petroleum resources, and determine the limits within which they can be sustainably exploited.
If there is one lesson we can draw from crises and wars, it is the need to rediscover Sudan’s potential, understand its resources, and build its institutions on the foundations of knowledge and preparedness. Possessing wealth is not enough. Real strength lies in knowing what you possess, measuring it, protecting it, and then knowing when and how to invest it.
Once we possess both the knowledge and the capacity, making a resource available to the public or private sector, or to Sudanese or foreign investors, becomes a calculated decision. We will then know what we are offering, how much we are offering, where it is being offered, for how long, to whom, and under what conditions.
The objective is not to reject investment or object to tenders. Rather, it is to achieve genuine investment based on a win-win equation: an investor receives a clear and fair opportunity; the state obtains the best possible value from its resources; and the resource itself remains protected and sustainable for future generations.
We must first understand our resources, assess their value, strengthen our institutions, and protect those resources through law and effective enforcement mechanisms. Only then should we put them forward for investment.
And the question that must come before “Who will fish?” and “How much will they pay?” is:
What do we own? How much are our resources worth? And how do we protect them?

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=17065