TEHRAN – Iran’s 4th International Conference on Fisheries and Aquatic Research is due to kick off through videoconference on November 18, IRIB reported.

The three-day online event is organized by the Agriculture Ministry in collaboration with the Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute (IFSRI), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO), and Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science.

As reported, this congress will be an important step towards increasing the scientific level of the country’s fishery and aquaculture sectors and ultimately boost the production of these industries.

Biology and assessment of aquatic resources, climate change and aquaculture, algae and aquatic plant breeding, aquaponics, and nutrition and live food in aquaculture, fish breeding, health, and diseases, as well as marketing and branding of fishery and aquaculture products are some of the areas covered in this conference.

In this event, fishery researchers and experts from Germany, Australia, and Singapore will deliver speeches on aquatic biosafety, borderless aquaculture, and onshore and offshore ecology to share the latest scientific findings with participants.

Fishery production has increased noticeably in the country in recent years, according to IFO Head Nabiollah Khoun-Mirzaei.

According to the official, Iran’s annual fishery output currently stands at about 1.28 million tons.

“The figure is anticipated to reach 1.37 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021), and surpass 1.5 million tons in the next year,” he said.

Khoun-Mirzaei has announced that the country’s fishery export stood at 146,000 tons worth $538.9 million in the past Iranian year, while the import was 29,000 tons valued at $98.9 million, so Iran’s fishery trade balance was $440 million in the previous year.

According to the IFO Deputy Head Hossein Ali Abdolhay, some 12 aquatic species are already bred in Iran and the figure is planned to reach 17 by the end of the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (March 2021).

EF/MA