Prior to 1998, up to nine steel hulled fish trawlers operated in Bahraini waters. These vessels were supposed to fish in waters deeper than 20 m. However, they often trawled in shallow water areas. This caused conflict with other fishermen. These fish trawlers were banned on 1 June 1998.
Many boats use a combination of fishing gear.
The number of active haddrah has declined, from a high of 971 units in 1978 to 377 units in 1998, although only 73 haddrah were licensed. This increase is primarily due to the increase in harvest of secondary fish species. For certain preferred fish species, landings have actually declined over the last ten years. This is a drop of 70 percent. The shrimp fishery is the most important fishery in Bahrain.