Musandam's first aquaculture project begins trial harvest
MUSCAT: Musandam Aquaculture Company, the first Omani farmed fishing enterprise in Musandam Governorate, has begun trialling the harvest of sea-bream from its facilities at Khasab – a milestone that underscores the promising potential of aquaculture development in this northern enclave of Oman.
A subsidiary of Musandam Global Investment Co SAOC, a closed joint stock company listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange, Musandam Aquaculture operates an integrated marine fish farming project at Al Harf off Khasab. The facility, backed by a number of foreign investors, targets the production of around 3,500 tonnes of farmed fish annually for regional and international markets.
'We are pleased to announce the successful completion of our second trial fish harvest at Al Harf Farm, part of Musandam Aquaculture Company in Khasab, Oman. This season has proven to be a success, yielding high-quality, fresh fish ready for distribution,' the company stated in a recent post.
Work on the project began in earnest in early 2024, centring on the development of an open water farm, a fish breeding unit, facilities for juvenile stages, and a processing unit for fish packing, alongside a research and development lab. Land-based support infrastructure, such as storage, logistics, and ancillary services, have also been established in the vicinity of Khasab Fisheries Port.
Significantly, the Omani government, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources (MoAFWR), has wholeheartedly backed the venture, in line with its accent on sustainable fishing to bolster the country's food security goals.
In December, a delegation of officials led by Eng Yaqoub al Busaidi, Ministry Under-Secretary, undertook a field visit to the company's Aquaculture Services Complex at Khasab Fishing Port. The complex includes a first-of-its-kind fish hatchery, a fish feed warehouse, and fish packaging and preservation factory.
The delegation also toured the offshore site of the floated cages where sea-bream is currently being farmed. They received an update on Musandam Aquaculture's plans for land facilities and farms proposed at Ghubb Ali as well, and its vision for importing its requirements of fish fry and feed for the current year.
According to Invest Oman, the investment facilitation arm of the government, an ongoing 30-year master-plan for aquaculture development in the Sultanate of Oman targets an output of around 200,000 MT per annum of farmed fish by the year 2040, alongside the creation of some 11,000 jobs for Omanis. The sector is expected to contribute $5.2 billion to the GDP by 2040.
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