Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 7
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Some 750 tons of bony fish have been caught in Iran's northern Gilan province from the beginning of the calendar month of Mehr (September 23).
The figure shows some 40 percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year, the IRIB News Agency reported.
The value of the mentioned amount of fish is estimated at 127 billion rials (some $4.23 based on the price of USD at the free market).
The figure is estimated to reach over 4,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.
Iran's total bony fish catch in the previous calendar year (which ended March 20) stood at 16,000 tons, Deputy Head of Iran Fisheries Organization Ali-Asghar Mojahedi said in September.
"Iran's bony fish catch has been on the rise in the past 12 years," the IRNA News Agency quoted Mojahedi as saying.
Iran's total fishery exports are expected to reach $350 million by the end of the current calendar year, Deputy Agricultural Jihad Minister Gholam-Reza Razeghi said in July.
"Iraq, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy are the main destination markets for Iran's fisheries," Razeghi stated, adding that Russia and Ukraine are the new markets for Iran's fishery exports.
Some 56,000 tons of fisheries worth of $214 million were exported from Iran in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended March 20, Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Kioumars Fathollah Kermanshahi said in May.
The figures show some 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 Kermanshahi 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.