Muscat: The Sultanate has seen 41 per cent increase in fish production by the end of October 2020. The total fish production recorded an unexpected jump to 608,000 tonnes of fish from artisan and commercial fishing compared to 432,000 tonnes at the corresponding period of 2019, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
A recent data released by NCSI indicates that artisan fishing produced 580,000 tonnes of fish whilst commercial fishing and coastal fishing produced 25,000 tonnes and 3,000 tonnes, respectively.
The bulk of fish output was produced by means of surface fishing which accounted for 336,000 tonnes while big surface fishes accounted for 134,000 tonnes and deep sea fishes made up 85,000 tonnes. Output of large surface fish jumped by 60 per cent compared to the previous year, deep sea fish production 31 per cent and shellfish 16.5 per cent.
Shark fishing increased by 7 per cent to 5,477 tonnes compared to 5,132 at the same period of 2019.
Al Wusta Governorate maintained its lead among the other governorates accounting for 219,000 tonnes or 49 per cent of total fish output in the Sultanate, followed by South Al Sharqiyah governorates (175,000 tonnes), North and South Al Batinah governorates combined (68,500 tonnes), Dhofar (63,300 tonnes), Musandam Governorate (27,000 tonnes).
Text by Zakaria Fikri
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