Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 21
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran and France inaugurated a joint fish farm on Iran 's southern Island of Qeshm.
Iranian agriculture minister, Mahmoud Hojjati and his visiting French counterpart Stephane Le Foll inaugurated the project via a videoconference on Sept. 21, Iran 's Fars news agency reported.
Iranian and French companies have invested some two million euro in the joint venture. The farm has the capacity to produce 10 million fry per year. Some 3 million saltwater fish will be produced in the farm per year in the first phase.
Deputy head of Iran 's Fisheries Organization, Hossein Abdolhai said on the sidelines of the ceremony that some part of Iran's need for fish fry will be supplied via the project. He added that fish fry export to the regional countries is on the agenda as well.
It was earlier announced that the project would come on stream in line with the Islamic Republic's fishery organization's development plan to replace farming of freshwater fish with saltwater fish.
Iran exported some $310 million worth of seafood in the past Iranian fiscal year (ended March 21). The country's sea fishing and aquatic cultivation totaled 900,000 metric tons in the same period.
Edited by CN
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