Baku, Azerbaijan, June 6
Trend:
Iran has established floating cages, capable of immersing, for the first time in the Caspian Sea, Ishaq Shabani, director general of Gilan province’s fisheries organization.
Shabani said that the floating cages are established in littoral areas of Gilan province in cooperation with AKVA group from Norway, ISNA news agency reported.
He said that the cages can immerse into a depth of 10 meters, when the sea is wavy.
The Norwegian company has carried out two years of study before installing the cages, he said adding that currently four cages with overall capacity of 500 tons are installed near Bandar Anzali port.
Each cage has a capacity for farming 125 tons of fish, he added.
Production of fish in cages in the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman are among the priorities of the Iranian agriculture ministry and cooperation are underway with Italy, Norway, France and Greece in this regard.
Iran has the capacity to produce 1 million tons of fish in cages, according to the country’s fishery officials.
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.
Last year CEO of Agriculture Bank of Iran, Ruhollah Khodarahmi, described the projects for breeding fishes in cages as a prioritized plan, adding that his bank is expected to allocate $350 million to such projects.
Iran’s fishery output reached 1.15 million tons in the fiscal year that ended March 2018. The share of cultivated fishery products stood at 480,000 tons in the same span of time.
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).
