Fish production jumps by 59pc in 2018

Muscat: The total fish landing in the Sultanate reached 553,000 tonnes at the end of 2018, registering a rise of 59 per cent compared to 250,338 tonnes during same period of 2017, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. According to the Ministry, the total value of fish stock stood at RO 269 million, representing a growth of 18 per cent over RO183 million in 2017. The Governorate of Al Wusta continues to have the highest fish landing (95,628 tonnes), followed by South Sharqiyah (73,694 tonnes) and the North and South Batinah (43,813 tonnes). The quantity of fish landing in the Governorate of Dhofar stood at 39,806 tonnes, and in Muscat 21,321 tonnes. Fish landing quantity in the Governorate of Musandam stood at 25,422 tonnes. According to the ministry, the highly produced fish varieties are sardines with a total production of 289,000 tonnes, the tuna fish with 29,000 tonnes, small pelagic with 18,000 tonnes, yellow fin tuna with 17,000 tonnes, and big pelagic with 16,000 tonnes. The Ministry pointed out that the top five importing countries for Omani fish are United Arab Emirates (53,000 tonnes), Thailand (44,000 tonnes), Saudi Arabia (24,000 tonnes), Brazil (23,000 tonnes) and Bangladesh (15,000 tonnes). The top five exported types of fish are sardines (142,000 tonnes), squid (14,000 tonnes), Ribbon Fish (10,000 tonnes), catfish (10,000 tonnes) and pelagic (10,000 tonnes). The total exports stood at 245,000 tonnes and the value of exports is RO 99 million.