Currently, Egypt is the seventh largest aquaculture producer in the world, according to FAO. (Photo: Stock File)
Egypt to house Middle East largest fish farm
EGYPT
Saturday, November 18, 2017, 00:20 (GMT + 9)
The largest fish farm in the Middle East is being set up on the international coastal road in the Berket Ghalioun area in the Metoubas locality, in Kafr al-Sheikh.
This is the National Fish Farming Project to be built on an area spanning 2,750 feddans (11.5 km2) and it is estimated to cost EGP 1.7 billion (USD 96 million), The Egypt Independent reported.
The initiative consists of a hatchery for fish and shrimp with a capacity of 20 million fish and two billion shrimp. In addition, a marine farm will produce up to 3,000 tons of fish per cycle, a shrimp farm 2,000 tons, and a freshwater fish farm will produce up to fish 2,000 tons per cycle.
The project developers explained that it will also include a research and development centre on an area of 700 square metres, a marine fish feed plant on an area of 1,500 square metres with a production capacity of 120,000 tons annually, a shrimp feed plant on an area of 570 metres with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons, and a foam factory on an area of 1,200 square metres to produce fish and shrimp containers.
Furthermore, an ice factory will be built on an area of 450 metres, with a production capacity of 40 tonnes of crushed ice each day, and 20 tonnes of ice blocks for freezing fish and shrimp.
Egypt’s aquacultural production ranks seventh in the world, according to the FAO, and ranks first in Africa in fish production.
In 2016, Egypt produced 1.5 million tons of fish, according to the General Authority for Fish Wealth Development. In the same year, it imported 236,000 tons of fish, worth 16 per cent of total fish production.
editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media
|