The entire board of directors at Oman Fisheries Company (OFC), which is Oman's largest publicly traded seafood firm, has resigned under the pressure of a worsening internal liquidity crisis.
Explaining the rationale behind the decision, the board, chaired by Mohamed Hamad Masrori, cited unwillingness of company shareholders – including the Omani government, which owns a 24 percent stake in the firm – "to provide urgently required financial assistance to the company and not even an undertaking to do so.” According to the board, positive performances in recent years have not been enough to offset its difficult cash position.
"The board paid its utmost efforts to bring the company back on the right track and achieved positive operational results over the past two consecutive years. The acute liquidity crisis has reached its limit, and the company is no longer able to survive," the board said in its note alerting the Muscat Stock Exchange to its decision.
In response, OFC has called for a special ordinary meeting on 6 July to discuss the resignations, elect a new board, and approve the resignation of General Manager Dawood Sulaiman Al Wahaibi, effective 31 July.
Even though OFC has struggled to find stability, the Department of Fisheries Resources Development at the Oman Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Water Resources reported that total investments in existing aquaculture projects reached OMR 349 million (USD 905 million, EUR 782 million) by the end of 2025 while another OMR 50 million (USD 129.6 million, EUR 112 million) was invested in new farmed fish projects.
The rise in investments has been driven partly by government incentives, such as exemptions from paying user fees for aquaculture sites for at least 36 months, allowing foreign investors to hold up to 70 percent ownership, and the removal of restrictions on capital transfers and profits abroad.
The investments also helped farmed fish output reach 9,240 metric tons (MT) in 2025, marking growth of 67.7 percent compared to 2024 totals, and that growth appears likely to continue, as earlier this year, Oman signed four contracts worth OMR 51.1 million (USD 132.6 million, EUR 113 million) for the production of 15,000 metric tons (MT) of shrimp and finfish.
Local Fishing Company and Arab Company for Aquatic Development signed two separate contracts for the development of OMR 20 million (USD 51.9 million, EUR 44.2 million) and OMR 21.3 million (USD 55.3 million, EUR 47.1 million) shrimp ventures with capacity of 5,000 MT and 6,000 MT, respectively. Both projects will be located in South Al Sharqiyah.
The third project will be developed by the Arabian Sea Aquaculture Company after it signed a OMR 6 million (USD 15.6 million, EUR 13.3 million) investment contract for the production of 2,000 MT of shrimp in Al Wusta.
Additionally, Marjan Global Fish Company has signed an agreement to develop a OMR 3.8 million (USD 9.9 million, EUR 8.4 million) finfish farming project near Muscat. The project has the capacity to produce 2,000 MT of European sea bass.
The new investments align with goals the Oman government has laid out in its Oman Vision 2040, which among other goals, aims to diversify the nation’s economy by investing more in non-oil sectors.
