Muscat, The total quantity of fish landed in the Sultanate of Oman hit 542,722 tons as at the end of August 2021 compared to 446,985 tons during the same period of 2020, comprising a rise of 21.4%, showed statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The total value of the fish stock stood at RO 243,787,000 as at the end of August 2021, a growth of 16.1% compared to RO 210,025,000 in 2020.

The Governorate of Al Wusta was the highest in terms of fish landing at 214,220 tons, followed by the Governorate of South A’Sharqiyah at 166,497 tons, and Dhofar at 47,527 tons. The quantity of fish landed in the governorates of North and South Al Batinah stood at 46,669 tons, and the quantity in Musandam was 29,027 tons. The landed quantity in Governorate of Muscat stood at 18,504 tons.

As for artisanal fish landing by species, the largest quantity of fish landed as at the end of August 2021 was small pelagic fish at 299,373 tons, compared to 242,944 tons during the same period in 2020, a rise of 23.2%. The quantity of large pelagic fish rose by 16.6% to reach 121,786 tons as at the end of August 2021 compared to 104,489 tons during the same period in 2020.

The quantity of demersal fish landed reached 87,344 tons, a growth of 42.3% compared to the end of August 2020 when it was 61,374 tons. Meanwhile, there was a decline in the artisanal fishing quantities of crustaceans and molluscs by 7.6% to reach 6,364 tons as at the end of August 2021 compared to 6,887 tons during the same period in 2020.

As for artisanal fishing of shark species, 4,854 tons were landed as the end of August 2021 compared to 4,290 tons during the same period of 2020. The artisanal fishing of other species reached 2,724 tons.

The total quantities landed by artisanal fishing amounted to around 522,444 tons as at the end of August 2021. The coastal fishing amounted to about 2,678 tons while the quantities landed by commercial fishing amounted to 17,599 tons.

Source: Oman News Agency