TEHRAN- The fishery output of East Azarbaijan province, in the northwest of Iran, stood at over 9,000 tons in the past Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20), a provincial official announced.

Mentioning the province’s capacities in terms of fisheries, Qasem Jafarvand, the director for fisheries and aquatic affairs in the province’s Agriculture Department, said that while over 9,000 tons of warm-water and cold-water fishes as well as sturgeons were produced in East Azarbaijan during the previous year, it is hoped that the output will increase significantly and some big steps will be taken in this due in the present year.

As stated by an official with Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO), production of 714,000 tons of fishery has been targeted for the current Iranian calendar year.

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.

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