(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- Fish farming is not a modern concept – the Gunditjmara people in Australia's south-west farmed eels for food and trade 6,000 years ago. Today Oman is looking to reel in capital to finance next-generation fish farming enterprises across the country.
Aquaculture, the practice of farming fish and shellfish, contributes to almost half of the world's seafood production. And as fish populations drop and the world's hunger for seafood continues to grow, aquaculture will become even more important.
According to Sajda al Ghaithy, media director at Ithraa, Oman's inward investment and export development agency, aquaculture presents a significant opportunity to attract inward investment, create jobs, boost exports as well as enhance the country's food security.
The way Oman farms fish today and in the future will impact local communities, consumers and the planet. It was the topic of discussion at Ithraa's Inside Stories seminar held on Tuesday at the Public Authority for Civil Aviation Training Centre in North Al Hail.
As the GCC's largest fresh fish producer, Oman has already demonstrated its fisheries credentials and potential to develop as a leading regional aquaculture hub. However, in order to realise its ambitions, access to land, technology, research and talent is critically important.
'Finding bright, entrepreneurial Omani minds and enabling them to realise their ambitions by connecting them to finance, capital and mentoring will be key in taking this economically valuable sector forward,' remarked Sajda.
According to the United Nations, around 90 per cent of the ocean's large predatory fish like tuna and salmon have already been fished. While over 70 per cent of the world's fisheries are considered significantly depleted or exploited. Currently, demand is being met by large-scale fishing techniques, like bottom trawling - dragging weighted nets across the sea floor, which indiscriminately scoop up both the intended target fish as well as coral, juvenile fish species and other marine life vital to the functioning of a marine ecosystem - all of which is discarded as by-catch. While by-catch data is often outdated and inaccurate, some estimates suggest it may amount to 28bn kilos per year, 40 per cent of the world's catch.
'Perhaps people don't realise, but some discard more fish at sea than what they bring to port, in addition to injuring and killing thousands of whales, dolphins, seals, sea turtles and sharks every year,' said Lubna al Harthy, Ithraa's marketing director.
The FAO's biannual State of the World's Fisheries Report reveals that over-exploitation of the planet's fish has more than tripled since the 1970s, with 40 per cent of popular species like tuna now being caught unsustainably. The global fish trade is currently estimated at US$56bn, surpassing most traditional agricultural exports.
Economists at the World Fish Research Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute estimate that the total world production of food-fish will increase by over 40 per cent by 2020. The potential of fish farming is significant, suggests Sajda.
'Commercial aquaculture has the potential to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. As many as 35mn people are directly employed in the fisheries sector worldwide, 20 per cent of them in the aquaculture industry; indirectly the industry supports several times this number.'
The linkage of the commercial aquaculture sector to local economies across Oman is two-fold; directly and indirectly it can support other sectors through the purchase and sale of goods and services. It can also be linked to foreign investments, exports, as well as infrastructure and human resource development, all of which would support Oman's ambitious economic plans. 'Our history and heritage are entwined with the sea and fisheries.
'Today, combine this track record with our pristine 3,165km coastline, Oman's proximity to the growing middle-class markets of Asia, where roughly 70 per cent of fish will be consumed, and we've a serious competitive advantage. This is something we intend to seize and capitalise on,' said Sajda.
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