As part of its efforts to boost the country’s national income, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources is aiming to reach a fish production target of 1.34mn tonnes by 2025.

Dr Abdulaziz bin Saeed al Marzouqi, director general of Fish Resources Development, said that he expects the fisheries sector’s contribution to the GDP will reach RO387mn by 2025, and that 8,509 direct jobs will be created by the same year, with investments estimated at about RO447mn.

He added that the ministry opened the Fisheries Laboratory in 2017, and with it announced more than 90 initiatives and projects that include three main activities – commercial and artisanal fishing, fish farming and processing and export.

The sultanate’s fish production contributed RO276mn to the GDP until October 2020, according to the ministry.

The ministry said the total quantity of fish landed in the sultanate was 608,000 tonnes at the end of October.

Artisanal fishing practices in the sultanate contributed 580,000 tonnes of fish, while coastal fishing contributed about 3,000 tonnes and commercial fishing around 25,000 tonnes.

Fish production increased by 4.8 per cent to 580,000 tonnes in the sultanate in 2019, compared to 553,000 tonnes in 2018, according to official statistics released recently.

Al Wusta maintained its lead among the other governorates accounting for 219,000 tonnes or 49 per cent of the total fish output in the sultanate, followed by South Sharqiyah  (175,000 tonnes), North and South Batinah combined (68,500 tonnes), Dhofar (63,300 tonnes), and Musandam (27,000 tonnes).

The National Centre for Statistics and Information said artisanal fishing accounted for 96 per cent of the sultanate’s total fish production in 2019.

Meanwhile, the ministry said it is planning to set up four fish collection centres in Al Wusta, South Sharqiyah and Dhofar governorates and a veterinary quarantine centre for livestock in Buraimi.

The ministry has opened a tender inviting Omani companies to bid for setting up the fish collection centres.

One fish collection centre will come up in the Ras Madrakah area in the wilayat of Duqm in Al Wusta governorate.

The two centres in Dhofar governorate will be located in Shaleem and Halaniyat Islands, and the Hasik area. The fish collection centre in South Sharqiyah will be located in the wilayat of Jalaan Bani Bu Ali.