TEHRAN- Production of 714,000 tons of fishery has been targeted for the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21), an official with Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO) announced.

Morteza Afrasiabi, the acting head of the IFO’s fishery development department, said that of the mentioned figure, 277,000 tons will be fishes bred in cages and 70,000 tons will be shrimps.

Achieving the targeted 714,000 tons of fishery requires infrastructure as well as credits and banking facilities, the official added.

Over the past three years, the efforts of the Aquatics Production and Trade Union of Iran, and the non-governmental sector have led to the addition of markets in countries such as Oman and Malaysia to Iran's target export markets in the field of fishery.

Iran exported 62,500 tons of fisheries in the first half of the past Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22, 2021), according to an official with the IFO.

Isa Golshahi, the IFO’s director-general for quality improvement, processing, and market development, said that live, frozen and processed fisheries and aquatic products have been exported to different countries in the first six months of the previous year.

More than 27,000 tons of fish, 201 tons of ornamental fish, 8,900 tons of shrimp, 6,500 tons of canned fish, 1.1 tons of farmed caviar based on the country's customs statistics, and two tons of trout baby were exported from the country, the official stated.

Fishery production has increased noticeably in Iran in recent years.

Enjoying high quality, Iran’s fishery products were sold easily in the export markets, and also some new export destinations welcomed these products in the past three years; as new markets including China, South Korea, and the Eurasian Union nations opened up for Iranian fishery products.

MA/MA