Monday, Mar 21, 2016

Dubai: The UAE is ramping up domestic farmed-fish production to meet growing seafood demand and to further protect dwindling wild fish stocks in Gulf waters.

New aquaculture facilities approved by federal authorities will see marked expansion to increase the annual yield of fish raised in sophisticated facilities designed to feed a hungry commercial market.

Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCE), told Gulf News that aquaculture will see major investments to raise the fish farm harvest in the next five years.

Last year, the ministry helped oversee the opening of the Dhh75 million first phase of the Shaikh Khalifa Marine Research Centre in Abu Dhabi.

In 2015, 790 tonnes of farmed fish were produced by 10 facilities in the country comprising about one per cent of seafood demand by nine million residents living in the UAE.

By 2021, the ministry is expects to exponentially grow aquaculture production to 36,000 tonnes annually, Al Zeyoudi said.

“This is basically because the focus of our leaders ON food security and fish and aquaculture. We just awarded a company to expand the Khalifa fishery in Umm Al Quain which is going to help us achieve that target five years from now. The expansion is almost double. We expect production to reach 15 million fish five years from now,” he said in an interview.

To help the UAE reach its target, Al Zeyoudi said the government is “reviewing its laws and regulations to make it easier for investors to get in. We are in direct contact with the private sector so that we can guide them exactly as to what our needs are so they can help us reach our targets. So far, we have 10 farms in the country and we are encouraging more to come.”

Hosting events such as AquaME is “bringing global players to come and is another signal from the government that we are looking for best practices to apply to the country,” he said.

Maryam Mohammad Hareb, Assistant Undersecretary, Water Resources and Nature Conservation Affairs Department at the ministry, told Gulf News that the emphasis is being placed on aquaculture offsetting traditional fishing by up to half by 2021 to preserve natural fish stocks from overfishing.

Updated laws and regulations prohibit wild juvenile fish from harvest and sale in UAE fish markets and restaurants so that juveniles can reach maturity to spawn new generations for future fish stocks.

“The aim is that aquaculture covers 50 per cent of the local production. What we want to do is help get the sustainability threshold level back in place for our natural fish stock,” said Hareb. “We’re now at 10 per cent of what we used to be.”

Ministry statistics show that there is currently a 136,450 tonne supply-and-demand gap for seafood in the UAE.

Fish species in fish farms

Aquaculture efforts are focusing on raising six varieties of fish.

•Nile Tilapia

•Sturgeon

•Black Tilapia

•Red Tilapia

•Sea Bream

•Indian White Prawn

SOURCE: Minister of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCE)

By Derek Baldwin Chief Reporter

Gulf News 2016. All rights reserved.