Saudi Arabia offers 20 sites for aquaculture investment in Red Sea

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture is offering more than 20 locations for aquaculture investment over 2,400 kilometers in the Red Sea, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The full capacity of the Red Sea area, should it be entirely utilized, reaches 5 million tons per year.

The ministry produced around 55,000 tons of fish in 2017, and is targeting 100,000 tons in 2020 and 600,000 tons by 2030, said Ali Shikhi, Director General of the General Department of Fisheries and CEO of the National Program for Developing Fisheries Industry.

The ministry is also working on developing eight locations for fishermen, aiming to reduce the cost of domestic production by 30 percent and to open outlets overseas, he said.

The fisheries sector exported SAR 1 billion worth of products in 2017. It plans to increase exports to SAR 15 billion in 2030 and to cover 75 percent of local demand.

The sector currently provides 3,000 jobs, and will double that number by 2020, Shikhi added.