Artisanal fishing output up 11.4 pc

MUSCAT: The total fishes delivered through artisanal fishing in the Sultanate by the end of 2017 hit 308,716 tonnes, constituting an increase of 11.4 per cent over 277,014 tonnes of the end of 2016.

The total value of these fishes at the end of last year stood at RO 224,753,000, representing a growth of 12.2 per cent over RO 200,358,000, according to statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The highest amount of fishes caught in artisanal fisheries was in the Governorate of Al Wusta, with 87,162 tonnes followed by the Governorate of South Al Sharqiyah with 78,973 tonnes, and the Governorates of North Al Batinah and South Al Batinah with 48,024 tonnes.

The amount of fish caught in artisanal fishing in the Governorate of Dhofar was 46,288 tonnes and in the Governorate of Muscat, it was 24,466 tonnes.

In the Governorate of Musandam, the quantity reached 23,802 tonnes. The largest quantity of fish was small surface fish, which was 135,319 tonnes at the end of last December, compared with 119,183 tonnes at the end of 2016, which is an increase of 13.5 per cent.

The volume of large surface fish decreased by 5.6 per cent to reach 80,673 tonnes by the end of last year compared with 76,377 tonnes by the end of 2016.

At the end of last year, the quantity of benthic fish caught by artisanal fishing reached to 67,567 tonnes, which is an increase of 9.2 per cent over the end of 2016 when it was 61,851 tonnes.

The quantity of keratos caught this year was 1.7 per cent more to reach to 8,257 tonnes by the end of last year compared with 8,381 tonnes by the end of 2016.

In the case of crustaceans and molluscs, 954 tonnes of shrimp, 530 tonnes of lobster and 6,643 tonnes of squid were caught in the year 2017.

It is worth mentioning that the total quantity of fishing by the end of last year was 2,951 tonnes while the commercial fishing was 389 tonnes.