The Fishery and Aquaculture sector profiles available for this country are: Libyan Arab Jamahiriya - National Aquaculture Sector Overview (from NASO) NASO National Aquaculture Sector Overview - provides a general overview of the aquaculture and culture based fisheries aspects at national level for each FAO member country....more Libyan Arab Jamahiriya - National Fishery Sector Overview (from NFSO) NFSO National Fishery Sector Overview - provides a comprehensive overview of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors for each country featured, including economic and demographic information, structure of the industry, development prospects, sector management and status and trends....more GENERAL ECONOMIC DATA
Commodity balance (2001):
STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FISHING INDUSTRYMarine fisheries  The catch sector in the Jamahiriya is composed of four major activities: artisanal coastal fishing,lamparafishing, coastal trawling, and tuna fishing. Sponge fishing, is a minor area of production. Most of the catch is taken by artisanal boats working with nets (trammel nets and gillnets) or hooks (longlines and handlines), and by thelamparafleet fishing for small pelagic. A total of 1 866 active artisanal crafts were counted during the national landing site survey conducted in the year 2000. These crafts are based at 135 beach, anchorage, and harbour landing sites along the coastline, with heavier concentrations through the western stretches. Seventy-six landing sites are permanent (all year operation) bases, and 59 seasonal. Artisanal fleet units include 1 300 craft of £10 m LOA, whereas 566 are of >10 m LOA. Approximately two-thirds of the smaller craft are motorized, usually with outboard engines in the 10-35 hp range. The larger units are decked vessels and are all fitted with inboard engines. Thelamparafleet is composed of around 135 motorized vessels ranging up to 18 m in length. During active fishing times, mostly in the summer, each unit teams up with one or two smaller lamp boats, known asdhgaissa, which are non-motorized and are towed along on nightly trips to and from the fishing grounds.Lamparafishing is concentrated along the western section of the coastline, between Misurata and the Tunisian border. Tuna fishing is carried out mainly using industrial fishing fleet (nine longliners & six purse seiners) and tonnaras (a set of nets which extend 3-5 km out from the coast). Tonnara fishing was more common in the past with as many as 18 stations reportedly in operation before the Second World War. Five stations now remain, only two of which were active during the 2003 season (May - July). These are located at Zreq and Dzirah, 200 km east of Tripoli City. The industrial fishing fleet (excluding tuna fishing fleet) is composed of 123 units, which are steel and wood stern trawlers. Lengths vary from 13 to 33 m LOA, and engine power ranges from 165 to 950 hp. and mostly are owned privately, either by individuals or partnerships. According to SCESS proposal for the fleet segmentation, the following fleet segments were identified for Libya: Sponge harvesting was a major activity during the 1950s and 1960s, especially along the eastern part of the coast between Benghazi and Tubruk. After a period of drastic decline owing to disease outbreaks in the beds and the withdrawal of labor from the fishery, sponge harvesting is slowly beginning to pick up again. Total production from Libyan waters was reported to be 50 000 mt (latest official figure) in 2000, with an estimated value of US$ 100 million. This production consisted of around 21 000 mt of small pelagic (sardine, mackerel, horse mackerel, and bogue,..), some 2 000 mt of bluefin tuna and about 24 000 mt mixed demersal species (mainly red mullet, breams, groupers, amberjack, common denntex, triggerfish, common panndora, octopus, cuttlefish, squid, sharkÂ…) and 3 000 mt of other fishes. The following table shows the location of main landing sites, which harbor more than 15 fishing units and an estimated quantity of fish landed in mt (the fish landed estimate comes from a sampling survey carried out in 2004). Table 2. Main landing sites  Twenty-four marine fishery cooperatives (jamaias) have been established at major fishing centers along the coast with the aim of providing supplies of essential gear and spare parts to the artisanal sector. Membership in localjamaiasis open to all fishers who have valid boat licenses issued by the fishery authorities. Between 1988 and 2000, the central authority for the fisheries sector was the Secretariat of Marine Wealth (SMW), a powerful administration that grouped all the administration and technical functions required to manage and develop the fisheries industry. During this period, the initiatives of the SMW backed by significant input from the state led to foster the development of the sector. As an indicator, the production grew from approximately 6 000 tonnes in 1988 to around 50 000 tonnes in 2000. In 2000 as a result of the decentralization policy, the SMW has been dissolved and some of its functions (fleet management, enforcement of regulations, management of port structures Â…etc) were transferred to local regional authorities (Shaabia's). Inland fisheries Inland fisheries in Libya are negligible. Free stocking (carp and some tilapia) was carried out in the past at Wadi Kaam (Khoms/Zliten area) and Wadi Mjinine (Tripoli area) reservoirs, and more recently carp have been stocked in Abou Dzira Lake near Benghazi. Results thus far do not indicate much potential for commercial production. Aquaculture Limited inland (freshwater) aquaculture has been attempted at several sites on a pilot basis over the past two decades although production remains minimal. A project to raise tilapia and other species using farmers small irrigation water reservoirs (50-200,Cub.m) at some agriculture projects in the desert some 650 km south of Tripoli, was started in the mid-1990s. Around 150 farmers were given free fingerlings and feed plus a regular technical follow-up by experts for two years, the projects succeeded in realizing its goals in encouraging the production and consumption of fish in this area. Currently the total farmers raising tilapia in their reservoirs increased to around 250, production also increased to 200-250 tonnes per year according to some field visit reports. A good deal of emphasis has been put on promoting mariculture since 1990. Pilot/trial stations have been established at Ain Kaam (near Khoms), Ain Ziana (near Benghazi), and Ain El Ghazala (near Tobruk). Work at Ain Kaam has involved brackish water cage culture of mullet and red tilapia. The lagoon at Ain Ghazala has been used for cage culture of sea bass, sea bream, mullet, and eels, and some cultivation of mussel has also been carried out on a trial basis. A major new hatchery and grow-out pond and cage culture of sea bass and sea bream complex is now under construction at Farwa Lagoon (near the Tunisian border). Few attempts by the private sector to establish cage and pond farming took place in the last few years but the level of expansion and production is still below the expected planned target (around 400 tonnes annually), due to technical and financial constraints. Catch utilization All catches of Libya is sold and consumed fresh on large urban market areas except for a part of the small pelagic which goes to canning for domestic market or as a fishmeal, during high peak production. As far as commercialization is concerned, facilities for receiving, handling and distributing fish have improved considerably, especially over the last few years after privatization of marketing chain. Most major landing and marketing centers are now served by ice plants and cold/chill storage facilities. Seven fish canning plants belonging to state companies which can process tuna and small pelagic, with a daily (raw material) capacity, 85 tonnes of tuna, 51 tonnes of small pelagic and 130 tonnes of fishmeal were established during the last two decades. None of these plants seem to operate in a satisfactory condition due to problems in supply of raw material and poor state of equipment in some of them. Although the government of Libya decided in the 1990Â’s to engage into a broad privatization policy which aimed to progressively withdraw the State from the entire productive sector, privatization is still underway for these canning plants since 2003. In general, exports of fish products are still very low. About 2 000 tonnes of bluefin tuna are exported annually to international markets (mostly to Japan) and small quantities of high value fish are exported to Tunisia. State of industry Although the fisheries authorities has devoted substantial resources to improving the harvest and post-harvest sectors, particularly in the areas of landing site and harbour development and processing plants, national fisheries still perform well below their real potential. Employment in the fisheries sector provides for a small fraction - around 1% - of the total national labor force. It is estimated, that the contribution of fisheries to the Agricultural GDP is around 9%. DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS The situation of fish stock was examined in the latest studies. For the western part of Libya, between the Tunisian border and Misurata, scientific campaigns were carried out in 1993-94 under the LIBFISH project. It was concluded that the demersal stocks are nearing full exploitation and that there should be no increase in fishing effort. For the central and eastern part (from misurata to the Egyptian border), a scientific cruise was organized in August 2003 by the Marine Biology Research Center (MBRC), in collaboration with Greek research institute. It was concluded that the demersal stocks were healthy and that there were potential for exploitation. In general, Libya shows prospect for development of its fishing sector with stocks that could be more exploited and the presence of large quantities of bluefin tuna in its waters. National planning objectives call for further diversification of the economy, particularly in food production, giving the increased role to fisheries and aquaculture. Demand In 2001, the average per capita consumption exceeded 7 kg. In general, the demand for domestically produced food fish could continue to grow. This trend could be considerably encouraged by upgrading product quality and improving marketing. Demand for fishmeal is also likely to show a steady increase in response to continuing pressure to expand production in local animal feed plants to serve the poultry industry. RESEARCH The fisheries research is under the responsibility of the Marine Biology Research Centre (MBRC) located on the coast at Tajura (near Tripoli). The following are the main MBRC running activities:
AID * COPEMED Project The project conducted in Libya the following activites:
* Med Sud Med Project
For 2005 the following activities are forseen:
Links Addresses of the national fisheries administrative and research institutions. 1- National Authority for Fishery Investment Main office at Tripoli Tel. +218-21-3608431 or 3608432/33 2-National Project for Development of Aquaculture Main office at Tripoli Tel. +218-21-3344324 3-Marine Biology Research Center Main office - Tajura Fisheries-related Legislation and Decisions
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FAO Home>Fisheries & Aquaculture
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONShelping to build a world without hunger
Fisheries and
Aquaculture Department
