More than 90% of Iran’s demand for artemia (brine shrimp) are met through imports while Lake Urmia can fully supply this demand, according to the head of Iran Artemia Research Center.
“Only about 10% of Lake Urmia’s artemia alone, if processed properly, can meet our needs,” Ali Nekoueifard was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Artemia or brine shrimp, which is a unicellular organism, has significant economic value as it is used as a main feed for freshwater fish and shrimps. It contains more than 52% protein and 4% fat, and the combination can meet all the nutritional needs of sea creatures.
Nekoueifard noted that Iran has the potential to become an exporter of artemia by selling each kilogram of the product for between $50-120.
“If Lake Urmia’s water level remains at 6-7 billion cubic meters, we can fully supply our local demand and export 180 tons of cyst and 120 tons of artemia per year,” he added.
Exploiting the full reserves of artemia in the salt lake could make the northwestern West Azerbaijan Province independent of the government budget, according to Salman Zaker, a member of the Iranian Parliament, as quoted by news agency IRNA.
Artemia are found worldwide in inland saltwater lakes, but not in oceans. Their dormant eggs, or cysts, are extensively used in aquaculture. The cysts can be stored for long periods and hatched on demand to provide live feed for larval fish and crustaceans. Brine shrimp are able to avoid cohabiting with most types of predators, such as fish, as they have the ability to live in waters of very high salinity (up to 25%). They are also seen as a model organism that can be used in testing the toxicity of chemicals.
The resilience of artemia — considered a “worm” hundreds of years ago with the intriguing ability to live in saline water — has led to novelty gift sellers marketing certain breeds as “sea monkeys” or “aqua dragons”.
Zaker noted that of the nine species so far registered in the world, one of the most important is Lake Urmia’s Artemia Urmiana.
Over 2,000 tons of dry artemia cysts are marketed worldwide annually, IRNA reported, adding that an assessment of the average artemia capacity of Lake Urmia in 2019 showed that in normal conditions, there would be enough of the crustacean to meet domestic demand and fulfil annual export orders for 180 tons of cysts and 120 tons of live artemia.
Natural conditions and infrastructure for farming artemia in Lake Urmia are available but they are not exploited, Zaker was reported as saying.
The MP said the private sector should be supported in breeding artemia, with the artificial breeding of artemia in the southern part of the country something that should also be considered.
The first scientific record of the existence of artemia dates back to the first half of the 10th century AD, according to the International Journal of Aquatic Science.
Lake Urmia, with approximately 102 islands, is protected as a national park by Iran’s Department of Environment. Some locals refer to it as a “sea”. At its greatest extent, the lake was the largest in the Middle East and the sixth largest salt lake on Earth with a surface area of approximately 5,200 square kilometers. However, by 2017, the lake had shrunk to 10% of its former size due to persistent drought, the damming of rivers and the pumping of groundwater. However, the lake started expanding in 2019, making a small recovery.
Located between the provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, Urmia Lake is fed through 21 permanent and 39 seasonal rivers.
It started to desiccate 10 years ago due to a variety of factors, including the construction of a 15-km causeway to shorten travel time between Urmia and Tabriz cities and construction of several dams that have choked off water supply from the mountains on both sides of the lake.
