Seafood production is estimated to reach 1.5 million tons by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2021) to register a 15% rise compared with the previous year's output, according to the head of Iran Fisheries Organization, affiliated to Agriculture Ministry.
“Aquaculture is predicted to account for some 800,000 tons of the total sum and the remaining 700,000 tons will be harvested from the country’s water bodies. This means that for the first time, production from seafood farms will surpass our fishing yield,” Nabiollah Khounmirzaei was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The increase in aquaculture production, he added, is because of substantial investments in recent years.
“Aquaculture has the capacity to create numerous jobs and its expansion is a must if we are to protect our seafood and water resources."
Khounmirzaei noted that per capita seafood consumption in Iran stood at 13.3 kilograms in the last Iranian year (March 2019-20), up from 12 kilograms in the year before, adding that the figure is estimated to reach 14.5 kilograms by the end of the current year.
Isa Golshahi, director general of IFO’s Seafood Quality Improvement, Processing and Market Promotion Department, says the organization plans to bring this figure close to the annual global average of 20 kilograms.
The official explained that over the past few years, Iran has set up cages for fish farming in the sea as well as water bodies behind dams, and is expanding the business as part of its plans to increase seafood production.
Latest data show a total of 23,462 tons of seafood worth $37.41 million were exported from Iran to 34 countries in the first three months of the current Iranian year (March 20-July 20), according to the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
“Caviar exports accounted for around 606 tons worth $727,000 of the total volume. Other main exported products were trout, eels, beluga, sharks, tuna, crabs, shrimps, ornamental fish and different kinds of frozen or dried fish,” Rouhollah Latifi also told Mehr News Agency.
Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, the UAE, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Thailand, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Kuwait and Armenia were the main export destinations.
Iran imported around 3,305 tons of seafood worth close to $6.98 million from 18 countries during the same period, the official said.
The imports were mostly from Singapore, China and India.
Iran is a major seafood producer in the region with trout, caviar and shrimp currently being the main exported items of the fisheries sector.
According to Khunmirzaei, Iran currently ranks as the world's third biggest in sturgeon farming and processing.
Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province in southwest Iran accounts for 40% of Iran's seafood production.
The province has the capacity to produce 240,000 tons of seafood per year.
Middle East's biggest seafood production units is active in the industrial city of Shahr-e Kord.
Located 97 km southwest of the central Iranian province of Isfahan, Shahr-e Kord’s capacity to breed salmon is the highest in Iran.
