DUBAI // A regional fund is being established for Arabian Gulf countries to contribute to the future production of food through aquaculture.
Set up by Emirates Star Fisheries in Dubai, the first project that will benefit kicks off in Oman in 2016, with the aim to produce 13,000 tonnes of fish a year by 2018.
“Aquaculture is largely unheard of in the Gulf,” said Prathapchandra Shetty, executive director of the company. “The idea is very good because there is a problem in agriculture in the region and you can’t push it too much here in the desert because there is a lack of water, the temperature is too high and the soil isn’t suitable. It’s all very expensive too, so there’s no point.”
His focus is on the 7,000 kilometres of coastline off Oman and Yemen.
“Open sea is better and it is less polluted,” he said. “It’s a very blessed place because there aren’t that many people there so it can be converted into a food basket.”
The Dh293 million project will involve inland aquaculture, cage farming, and mariculture, also known as offshore farming.
“In cages, there are commercially viable successful businesses of bluefin and yellowfin tuna,” Mr Shetty said. “Some people are worried about the quality of the fish but these culture systems can provide very fresh quality tuna.”
After surveying 3,000km of coastal land in Oman, Mr Shetty will submit a proposal to the Omani Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries this week requesting four thousand hectares of land.
“We will develop a hatchery complex for shrimp, tuna, cobia and sea bream, because these are established species and they are more commercially viable.”
The first phase, from 2016 to 2018, is expected to produce 3,000 tonnes of fish in the first year, 8,000 tonnes in the second and 13,000 tonnes in the final year. This includes 10,000 tonnes of shrimp and 3,000 tonnes of tuna, cobia and sea bream.
Experts say the practice has potential as a source of protein in such a water-scarce region.
“This is due to the efficient feed-conversion ratio, efficient utilisation of imported feedstock and also due to the unsuitable climate conditions for agricultural production,” said Nicholas Lodge, managing partner of Clarity, an Abu Dhabi-based agriculture consultancy. “Demand for protein is forecast to increase significantly in the region, reflective of expected increase in disposable income and population growth.”
Although aquaculture can play an increasingly important role, he said it came with challenges.
“Technically, it is quite difficult,” Mr Lodge said. “Suitable land can be more difficult to secure than may be first thought and availability of suitable feed is already an issue and may limit expansion plans. So, in principle it makes sense, and it is more suited perhaps to the region than other forms of protein production. However, experience to date indicates that it is hard to get right, requires large amounts of capital and, critically, the right technical partners and know-how.”
Jean-Yves Mevel, an aquaculture professor at UAE University, said a clear vision for the development of aquaculture with more research programmes was needed before setting up large production systems. “Cobia and tuna are not yet successfully produced in the world,” he said.
“Cobia has been done in Colombia and other places, but commercially speaking, there are problems associated with farm-raised animals that need to be addressed. Tuna is in the early development stage and expertise is very limited, but the potential is there.”
The aim is for the fund to reach Dh550m initially and Dh1.8 billion eventually.
“We’re looking for investors to create the fund,” Mr Shetty said. “This is the future for food production in the region. There’s no other possibility.”
cmalek@thenational.ae
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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