Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun.21/ Trend R.Zamanov
Some 3,400 tons of fisheries were exported from Iran's city of Rasht, located in the northern province of Gilan, in the previous calendar year, which ended March 20, the managing director of Rasht Fish Sellers Company Mehrbakhsh Hosseinzadeh said on Friday.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were the main destinations for the exported fisheries, the ISNA News Agency quoted Hosseinzadeh as saying.
"The Gilan province has the highest rate of fishery consumption per capita in Iran," he said.
The Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Kioumars Fathollah Kermanshahi said in May that some 56,000 tons of fisheries worth 214 million dollars were exported from Iran in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended March 20.
The figures show 5.4 and 3.7 percent increase in terms of value and weight, respectively in comparison to its preceding year, the IRNA News Agency quoted him as saying.
European and Asian countries including France, Germany, Switzerland, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkmenistan were the main destinations.
Iran's annual catch in fishery sector was around 500,000 tons in the previous year.
Iran's total catch stood at 450,000 tons two years ago. The catch off the southern coast totaled 412,000 tons in the mentioned year, while the catch off the northern coast totaled 38,000 tons.
Access to the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and many river basins provides Iran the potential to develop excellent fisheries.
Iran has 1,786 kilometers of coastline on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. These southern waters are rich with fish and other marine resources.
Expansion of the fishery infrastructure would enable the country to harvest an estimated 700,000 tons of fish annually from the southern waters.
However, increased pollution from the oil industry and other enterprises poses a serious threat to this area's fishing industry.
...