Fishing the Sea of Galilee

Fishing on the Sea of Galilee has been going on for thousands of years but recently has been in the news because of overfishing.
Lake Kinneret, as the Sea of Galilee is also known, has seen the amount of fish caught commercially drastically decline. In 1999 the annual catch was 2,144 tons but by 2009 the catch was only 157 tons, a decline of over 90% in just ten years! In 2010 the Israeli government  announced a comprehensive ban on all fishing in the Lake, effective March 1st of that year. After a lot of lobbying by the Tiberias Fishermen's Organization, the ban was reduced from a total ban for two years, to a four month ban each year from April 15th to August 15th which is the breeding time for most fish in the Lake.
An important fish species which has been overfished is the mango tilapia, sometimes called St. Peter's fish. The incident that gave the fish that name is recorded in Mat. 17:27, Jesus said to Peter "lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that come up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for me and you." This was to pay the temple tax.


The Sea of Galilee is mentioned several times in the New Testament and is also called the Sea of Tiberias (Jn. 6:1; 21:1). Perhaps the best known occurrence is when Jesus was walking along the sea shore and saw Simon Peter and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. "Then said Jesus to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." They immediately left their nets and followed him''." They were not the only ones, James and John,sons of Zebedee, were also fishermen who followed the Lord (Mat. 4:18 - 22).
Jesus wants us to follow him and to talk to others about the wonderful gospel message of the coming kingdom when Jesus returns. Jesus' message was "The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel." (Mark 1:15).

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