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3. INLAND FISHERIES STATISTICS

The following statistics on freshwater fish, including sturgeon and migratory stocks, have been compiled from the FAO Yearbook of Fishery Statistics - Catches and Landings (Volume 60, 1985) (Table 1).

According to these data, the freshwater fishery has virtually stagnated over the last 6 years. With the exception of sturgeon, the data do not allow one to asses how much of the catch has come from the Caspian Sea. They also do not include aquaculture production. Woynarovich (1985) estimated that fish pond production during the year of his visit was between 2 and 3 t/ha/year, which, with 4000 ha of fish in operation at that time, would amount to about 10 000 t/year. This would triple the available figure for the total freshwater fish production for 1985, making it some 14 500 t/year. 55 800 t/year came from marine production in 1985. Current projections are to produce within the next 10 years 100 000 t/year of cultured fish from an area of about 35 000 ha. Much effort has been channelled into activities to achieve this target, especially into fry and fingerling production and expansion of pond area. Stocking of a variety of water bodies other than ponds by hatchery-produced fry and fingerlings also has been initiated by the Shilat and the Jehad organization. A number of hatcheries/fish farms, visited by Woynarovich in 1985, were also visited during the present Mission to assess what part of the hatcheries fingerling production is, or could be made available for stocking inland waters.


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