Total value of fish stock in August stood at OMR243.78mn

Muscat: The total value of fish stock in Oman stood at OMR243.78 million at the end of August 2021, a growth of 16.1 per cent compared to OMR 210.02 million in 2020, data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) show.

The total quantity of fish landed in the Sultanate of Oman hit 542,722 tonnes at the end of August 2021 compared to 446,985 tonnes during the same period of 2020, comprising a rise of 21.4 per cent, showed NCSI statistics reveal.

The Governorate of Al Wusta was the highest in terms of fish landing at 214,220 tonnes, followed by the Governorate of South A’Sharqiyah at 166,497 tonnes, and Dhofar at 47,527 tonnes. The quantity of fish landed in the governorates of North and South Al Batinah stood at 46,669 tonnes, and the quantity in Musandam was 29,027. The landed quantity in the Governorate of Muscat stood at 18,504 tonnes.

As for artisanal fish landing by species, the largest quantity of fish landed at the end of August 2021 was small pelagic fish at 299,373 tonnes, compared to 242,944 tonnes during the same period in 2020, a rise of 23.2 tonnes. The quantity of large pelagic fish rose by 16.6 tonnes to reach 121,786 tonnes at the end of August 2021 compared to 104,489 tonnes during the same period in 2020.

The quantity of demersal fish landed reached 87,344 tonnes, a growth of 42.3 per cent compared to the end of August 2020 when it was 61,374 tonnes. Meanwhile, there was a decline in the artisanal fishing quantities of crustaceans and molluscs by 7.6 per cent to reach 6,364 tonnes at the end of August 2021 compared to 6,887 tonnes during the same period in 2020.

As for artisanal fishing of shark species, 4,854 tonnes were landed at the end of August 2021 compared to 4,290 tonnes during the same period of 2020. The artisanal fishing of other species reached 2,724 tonnes.

The total quantities landed by artisanal fishing amounted to around 522,444 tonnes at the end of August 2021. The coastal fishing amounted to about 2,678 tonnes while the quantities landed by commercial fishing amounted to 17,599 tonnes.