Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2
Trend:
Iran’s fishery output reached 1.15 million tons in the fiscal year that ended March 2018, according to the country’s deputy agriculture minister, Hassan Salehi.
Salehi, who heads the Iranian Fisheries Organization, said that the share of cultivated fishery products stood at 480,000 tons in the same span of time, Iranian media outlets reported.
Iran also cultivated 220 million of aquarium fishes in the last fiscal year, Salehi said, adding that Isfahan and Markazi provinces had the highest share from the output.
Iran’s fishery sector aims to reach the planned output of 1.6 million tons by 2022, under the sixth five-year economic development plan (39 percent more than the current level), the official said.
Production of fish in cages in the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman are among the priorities of the agriculture ministry, he said, adding that cooperation are underway with Italy, Norway, France and Greece in this regard.
The country started producing fishes in cages last year with an annual output of 10,000 tons. Currently, 470 cages in sea are in use for fish cultivation.
Salehi further said that Iran’s overall fishery exports reached 123,000 tons, worth $500 million in the last fiscal year.
The country’s fishery exports in the fiscal year to March 20, 2017 accounted for $412 million.
The official also put the value of the country’s aquarium fishes at $3 million in the last fiscal year.
Salehi noted that per capita fish consumption in Iran has increased by 500 grams to 11.2 kilograms in last fiscal year, which is below the global average of 20 kilograms.