500 shekel fee (roughly $135), but the majority are denied the chance to do so. Other boats, both at sea and on the shore, are destroyed by bullet and rocket fire from Israeli forces.75 The Department of Fisheries in Gaza’s Ministry of Agriculture estimates that “the direct losses suffered by Gaza fishermen in 2016 as a result of Israeli navy fire or confiscation of boats and equipment amounts to some $0.5 million.”76 The punitive adjustments of the fishing zones and the frequent and somewhat arbitrary nature of the attacks on fishermen, particularly when exercised on those who adhere to the restrictive fishing zones or boats that are on the shore, illustrates that they are not rooted in any justified security measures but rather in a desire to deny the Palestinian population from accessing the sea, a natural resource. Fishermen in Gaza have been forced to abandon their livelihoods and experienced a dramatic drop in their quality of life. The UN reports that of the 10,000 fishermen in Gaza in 2000, only 3,500 remained in 2013.77 Moreover, from those 3,500, only 1,200 are able to actually fish.78 The restricted space of the fishing zone is often insufficient to accommodate even this reduced number,79 and has led to overfishing, decreasing fishermen’s yield from 1,817 tons in 2006 to 437 tons in 2011,80 and costing the economy approximately $26 million per year.81 It is now extremely difficult to earn a living wage from fishing - 90 percent of Gaza’s fishermen are considered impoverished,82 and 95 percent rely on international aid.83 The lack of other available jobs, however, has forced some to risk their lives venturing into deeper waters beyond whatever fishing zone Israel has set at the time in attempts to reach areas containing more fish.84 75 Melon, Shifting Paradigms, 11, supra note 71. 76 Even the fishermen’s ability to repair their damaged boats and equipment has been deliberately obstructed by the blockade, as Israel has refused to allow the essential materials to enter Gaza on grounds that they could be used for military purposes by Hamas. In 2016, Palestinian officials personally presented Israeli military authorities with a list of items required by the fishing sector to function, none of which had been allowed in as of January 2017; see, B’Tselem, “Destroying Gaza’s Fishing Sector,” supra note 54. 77 OCHA, Restricted Livelihood, 1, supra note 61. 78 Ma’an Development Center, Gaza Blockade in Numbers: Continued Denial and Deprivation, 14 June 2015, 2, available at: http://www.maan-ctr.org/files/server/Publications/FactSheets/Gaza%20 Blockade%20In%20Numbers.pdf [hereinafter Ma’an Development, Gaza Blockade in Numbers]. 79 B’Tselem, “Restrictions on Fishing Range,” supra note 55. 80 Al-Haq, “Five years into the closure,” supra note 73. 81 Ma’an Development, Gaza Blockade in Numbers, 1, supra note 78. 82 Al-Haq, “Five years into the closure,” supra note 73. 83 OCHA, Restricted Livelihood, 1, supra note 61. 84 B’Tselem, “The Gaza Strip – Restrictions on Fishing,” 1 Jan 2011, available at: http://www.btselem. org/gaza_strip/restrictions_on_fishing [hereinafter B’Tselem, “Gaza Strip – Fishing”]. 30