The fishing fleet in Oman landed 279,610 metric tons (MT) of fish last year, an increase of 22,438 MT compared with 2015, according to new figures released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Fish export earnings increased by almost OMR 10 million (USD 26 million, EUR 22.1 million) to OMR 58.8 million (USD 152.7 million, EUR 130 million) last year, based on a volume of 114 MT, up three MT compared with 2015.
The total quantity of fish landed by Oman’s traditional fishing sector increased to 277,014 MT from 254,767 MT in 2015, while fish landed by commercial fishing fell from 210 MT in 2015 to 163 MT last year, NCSI’s data showed.
Fish landings through coastal fishing increased to 2,330 MT in 2016 from 2,024 MT in 2015, while aquaculture contributed 103 MT to the total fish landings in 2016, compared with 170 MT in 2015.
In 2016, the total number of renewed fishing licenses increased to 7,545, compared with 4,020 in 2015.
The number of new licenses issued in 2016 was 1,320, while 1,337 new licenses were issued in 2015.
