TEHRAN- Iran’s annual output of fishery will be increased by 200,000 tons by the end of the country’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (March 2021), Mohammad Pourkazemi, the chairman of Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute, said on Monday.

He also announced that 400,000 tons will be added to the annual output by the end of Iran’s 1404 (March 2025-March 2026) Outlook Plan, IRIB reported.

Producing one million tons of different types of fisheries per annum, Iran accounts for one percent of the world’s fishery production, Pourkazemi mentioned.

More than $900 million of fisheries and fish products was exported from Iran during the past Iranian calendar year (which ended on March 20), according to Hassan Salehi, the head of Iran’s Fisheries Organization.

As he further explained during the said period Iran exported above $412 million of fisheries and over $500 million of fish products.

At the present time, Iran produces 1.07 million tons of fisheries per annum, Salehi added.

The country plans to increase the value of its fishery exports up to $450-$500 million by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2018), Mehr news agency quotes Salehi as saying in early May.

After the implementation of nuclear deal with world powers in January 2016, Iranian government has focused on development of domestic fishery industry to attract foreign investments and increase the country's share of the international market, Salehi had stated in early February.

MA/MG