Iranian Fisheries Status: An Update (2004-2014)

Abstract

Iran’s appropriate geographical location (i.e., large brackish water source in the north, Caspian Sea, salt water source in the south, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman) and a wide range of brackish, freshwater and marine species (i.e., trout, carp, sturgeon, sea bass, sea bream, turbot, mackerel, sardine, tuna, sea cucumber, marine shrimp, crayfish) provides Iran to be a great fish producer country. The total fishery production was 947,352 tons in 2014. In this year, 575,512 tons (60.74% of total fishery production) of fish production were obtained from the capture fisheries and 371,840 tons (39.26% of total fishery production) of production was obtained from the aquaculture production. Fisheries in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are the most important fishery (93% of total fishery) in Iran. There has been a fast increase in the aquaculture production in Iran. For example, total aquaculture production for 2004 and 2014 was 124,560 and 349,365 tons, respectively. Therefore, the percentage of aquaculture in total fish production has been rising every year. The ratio of aquaculture production to total fish production was 26.26% in 2004, 32.65% in 2008 and 39.26% in 2014. Rainbow trout and carps are the main cultured freshwater fish species. In recent years, fisheries production export of Iran has been increased from US$ 85 million in 2004 to US$ 300 million in 2014. In conclusion, despite Iran’s long coastline, fishery has not been developed completely and has the potential to be developed more by enhancing aquaculture and fish cage culture.