The Sultanate of Oman has begun developing eight fishing harbors of varying sizes as part of a comprehensive plan to strengthen the country’s fisheries sector and create additional employment opportunities.
Depending on the availability of funds, Oman’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MoAF) expects up to 30 fishing harbors to be operational by 2020, up from 20 currently, reported the Times of Oman.
The Barka fishing harbor was recently completed while two others – Al Musanna and Liwa – are at an advanced stage of completion. A further five harbors are in the pipeline, and several existing facilities will be modernized or upgraded to help the Arab country’s fishermen, said the ministry.
Aligned with the new infrastructure, there will be significant investment in additional vessels, fish markets and aquaculture projects, as well as on providing more processing and logistics services.
As a result of the expansion plans, Oman’s fish harvest, including production through aquaculture, is expected to reach 500,000 metric tons (MT) per annum by 2020, up from 270,000 MT in 2015.
MoAF further believes that an additional 10,000 to 15,000 employment opportunities will be created.
Also by 2020, the infrastructure for the Duqm fishing harbor and processing hub is expected to be complete. Being developed by Duqm’s Special Economic Zone Authority in collaboration with MoAFand eventually housing around 60 processing units, the facility is expected to be the largest of its kind in the Middle East.
