Fish farms add to food security in North Al Batinah

Muscat: Fish farming projects are one of the food security projects in the North Al Batinah Governorate.

Five fish farming projects in the governorate are supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources.

There are also other private projects owned by citizens, distributed across the various wilayats of the governorate.

Engineer Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Haddabi, Director General of the General Directorate of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources in North Al Batinah, said: “Investment in fish farming projects is one of the sources of food security, as these projects receive technical follow-up by specialists in the Directorate’s Department of Fisheries Wealth and specialists in the Ministry.”

“There are five fish farming projects in the governorate, some of which are licenced and others are being licensed in accordance with the requirements specified in the aquaculture and quality control regulations, distributed among the wilayats of the governorate, so that the area of ​​the farming project does not exceed 10 percent of the total area of ​​farmed agricultural land, based on what was stipulated in the regulations governing fish farming, with the availability of 15 culture tanks in each fish farm, and the presence of other facilities in each project that contribute to improving the farming process according to sound scientific foundations,” Al Haddabi added.

Al Haddabi pointed out that specialists in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources are following up on these projects and providing technical support, in addition to carrying out periodic visits to these farms and following up aspects of nutrition, and the extent to which the aquaculture ponds meet the specifications compatible with the safety of the fish and their freedom from diseases and pests, and conducting water tests, taking samples of farmed fish, examining them, and ensuring their suitability for human use.

Al Haddabi explained that there are other methods in fish farming projects in terms of the components of the culture ponds, as there is a special project in one of the culture farms in the state of Sohar based on lined earthen ponds, which is an inexpensive type, with a method for draining the ponds’ water and replacing it according to a working methodology that helps reduce the cost of production and other expenses in preparing fish farming ponds.