Agriculture Saudi Fisheries sets up aquaculture company By Neil Halligan October 10, 2024, 2:01 PM SPA Production of seafood in Saudi Arabia grew five-fold between 2015 and 2022 Fish farm production up 16% Marine fisheries also up 16% Target is 600,000 tonnes a year A specialist aquaculture company has been set up by Saudi Fisheries Company (Alasmak), which is part owned by the Public Investment Fund, as fish production in the kingdom grows. Aquaculture is farming fish and aquatic plants for commercial use, such as food. Alasmak specialises in aquaculture and seafood manufacturing. It also operates fishing vessels, seafood processing plants and retail fish counters locally and internationally. The company is 40 percent owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, PIF, with the remainder held by investors. The board of Saudi Fisheries, a listed company based in Dammam, approved the establishment of the new company in Riyadh with a capital of SAR100,000 ($27,000), pending necessary approvals and licences from the relevant authorities, a statement on Tadawul said. Shares in Saudi Fisheries were down 3 percent at the close of trading on Wednesday. Saudi fishing industry bolstered by support plan Baiting the hook to develop Saudi’s aquaculture industry Neom aquaculture venture seeks fish self-sufficiency In August Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co (SALIC) sold its 39.99 percent shares in Alasmak to the Saudi businessman Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Humaid for just over SAR122 million. Production of fish farmed in saltwater and inland waters in Saudi Arabia grew 16 percent in the past 12 months, figures from the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture show. Fish farm production in 2023 reached 140,000 tons, up from 120,000 tons the previous year. Marine fisheries in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf added a further 74,700 tons, a 16 percent increase on 2022, to the total, bringing overall production to 214,000 tons. Popular fish varieties in Saudi Arabia include Nile tilapia, sea bass, dentex (bream and the like) and shrimp. Increased investment in infrastructure, encouraged by a target of tripling current levels by 2030 has seen the industry transformed in recent years. “The kingdom has achieved substantial growth in its aquaculture sector, with the production of seafood increasing by 400 per cent between 2015 and 2022,” said Chaitanya GRK, a Dubai-based regional director with the food and agribusiness specialist Farrelly Mitchell. He said the kingdom plans to use its extensive coastline along the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, where the climatic conditions are favourable, to boost its aquaculture production towards a target of 600,000 tons annually. “The main reason for the increase was government support and investment,” Chaitanya said. “The government has implemented supportive policies, invested in essential infrastructure, and promoted educational programmes to bolster the sector.” Shrimp production at fish farms reached more than 66,000 tons in 2023, followed by Nile tilapia, with more than 45,000 tons produced, and sea bass, with a production of more than 13,000 tons. Saudi Arabia has introduced technologies such as recirculating aquaculture systems, which recycle water through filtration and treatment processes and have made the production process more sustainable and efficient. The National Centre of Fisheries said in July that in the first half of 2024 it issued 18 licences for aquaculture projects in the Mecca region, which includes around a third of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastline. In August, Saudi Arabia opened a tender for a fish farm on its north-eastern coast.
