An official at Iran Fisheries Organization says the country ranks first in the world in terms of producing farm-raised trout.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mohammad Afrasiabi, Iran Fisheries Organization’s director general for fresh water aquatics, said the Islamic Republic is currently producing 140,000 tonnes of trout in special farms across the country, ranking first in the world in this field.

He added that a total of 370,000 tonnes of various aquatics are also produced in Iran's fresh water reserves per annum, which are both consumed in the country and exported to other countries, including the neighboring states.

Afrasiabi said that according to the contents of the Sixth Economic Development Plan of Iran, the country’s capacity for production of aquatics in cage must hit 900,000 tonnes, adding, “At present, 100,000 tonnes of aquatics are produced through this method in northern and southern coastal regions of Iran.”

The official noted that Iran's aquaculture industry has been constantly developing in the past decade and farming shrimp as well as saltwater fish has been on the rise.



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] An Iranian official at Iran's Fisheries Organization says the country is world’s top trout producer by yielding 140,000 tonnes of farmed trout a year.[/caption]

Referring to the high number of workshops held across the country to develop aquaculture, the official said increasing profitability of aquaculture and creating new jobs in the sector are the main goals of the workshops.

In another part of his interview, Afrasiabi noted that in addition to being the world’s first in trout production, Iran exports some 60,000 tonnes of warm-water fish a year, adding that most of warm-water fish produced in Iran is exported to the country’s western neighbor, Iraq.

“In addition, a total of about 140,000 tonnes of cold-water fish is produced in Iran per year, most of which is consumed inside the country,” he added.

The official noted that Iran has plans to bring about a major rise in production of cold-water fish in order to pave the way for exporting cold-water fish to neighboring countries, especially Russia.

By Press TV