ARAK, Markazi Province -- Deputy Head of the Fisheries Organization for Breeding and Farming Affairs Hassan Sadeqi said here on Monday that Iran produces 50 percent of Asia's cold-water fish with production standing at 12,000 tons.

Sadeqi told a seminar on fish farming in this central Iranian province that 90 percent of the world's cold-water fish is produced in Asia.

He put the annual cold-water fish production in Asia at an average of 24,000 tons.

He said the budget allocated for promoting fisheries in Iran has risen to Rls.100 billion in the Third Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2000-2005) from Rls.20 billion in the Second Plan (1994-1999).

He added that in the past two years, Rls.300 billion were allocated for constructing seafood production complexes nationwide.

Moreover, he said, projects are underway for production of 30,000 tons of cold-water fish a year all over the country.

He put the per capita fish consumption in Iran at 5.2kg -- a figure which stands at about half a kilogram in the coastal and rural regions, IRNA reported.