Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 7 / Trend, N. Umid/
About 66.6 percent of the Iran's 12,000 hectares Shrimp farms closed down due to lack of the liquidity, the official of the Iran's Fisheries Organization (Shilat), Omid Reza Asghari said, ISNA news agency reported.
He went on to note that, only 4,800 hectares of the farms are under cultivation.
Asghari predicted that Iran will produce about 13,000 tons of shrimps during current solar year (started on March21), with some 80 percent of that amount will be exported.
He also criticized international sanctions against Iran, adding that, Iran previously was exporting its shrimp to USA, Japan and European countries, while now the target market have been changed to Persian Gulf states.
Some 4,000 tons of shrimp, valued at around $17 millions, was exported during the solar year which ended on March 21, 2012 to the UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon, Australi
Some 6700 tons and 8,000 tons of shrimps were produced in the country in the years to March 2011 and March 2010 respectively.
In 2005, Iran's shrimp export revenues amounted to 26 million Euros.
Iran has harvested some 840,000 tons of sea food during the last solar year.
Iranian Fishery exports stood at $200 million at the year ended in March 2012.
Iran harvested 663,000 tons of sea foods during the year that ended in March 2011, and 735,000 tons at the year ending in March 2012.
About 200,000 individuals are currently working in Iran's fisheries.