United Arab Emirates · Textile / Basketry (fishing-implement craft)
Gargour (also gargoor, garagir plural); Al Salia (a related umbrella-shaped fish trap); Hadra (a related perpendicular fence-trap system, distinct construction)
The weaving and construction of the gargour, a dome-shaped fish trap central to traditional Emirati and wider Gulf fisheries, historically intricately woven from locally sourced palm fronds by specialist trap makers before transitioning to imported galvanized wire while maintaining the same traditional shapes and sizes. Fresh palm fronds were traditionally woven into a semi-circular or dome form, with fish food placed inside to attract catch through a funnel entrance that narrows progressively, preventing escape once fish enter -- a specific documented capture mechanism shared with related trap types. Contemporary gargour traps are manufactured from galvanized steel wire of 1 to 1.5 millimeters in diameter, supported on a base reinforced with steel bars, representing a documented, complete material transition while preserving inherited traditional trap form and proportional design. The trap remains the main fishing gear used in the United Arab Emirates today, deployed from small-scale artisanal fishing vessels including fiberglass speed boats (tarrad) and traditional wooden dhows (lanch); a scientific study of 601 trap hauls recorded a total catch of 2,213 kilograms, averaging 3.68 kilograms per trap pull across 47 species, 18 of which were classified as primary commercial catch. The gargour's continued centrality to Emirati fisheries has generated genuine contemporary regulatory tension: in 2017, gargour traps were responsible for catching more than 75 percent of the landing catch of certain vulnerable species, prompting Abu Dhabi's Environment Agency to progressively restrict, and in 2021 partially ban, specific gargour cage types targeting threatened species, following earlier 2013 vessel-quantity limits and a 2014 net-versus-trap licensing choice requirement. The trap form has additionally inspired direct contemporary artistic engagement, exemplified by Emirati artist Khalid Al Banna's 2020 sculptural series 'Gargour,' using steel rods wrapped in multi-hued fabric to explore the trap's hollow form as metaphor, exhibited at Aisha Alabbar Art Gallery, Dubai.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not independently inscribed
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