UAE offset organisation Inter-national Fish Farming Co (Asmak) is creating the Middle East's largest commercial hatchery for finfish in Umm Al Quwain following an agreement it signed with the UAE Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Construction work on the Dh70 million ($19 million) project was expected to start shortly after the agreement was signed in early September. Production was expected to begin by May 2005, an official said.
The hatchery will initially produce finfish but later produce shrimps and other species. Finfish production is targeted at 25 million juveniles annually.
"This project will constitute a strategic reservoir for Asmak, enhancing the production of its various fish farming facilities of which Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah are the most prominent," the official said. The Umm Al Quwain hatchery is projected to reduce company costs by 30 per cent. Asmak now imports fish juveniles from Europe and Kuwait for its Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah farms.
The company said some cost reduction was realised after it began importing from its joint venture facility in Kuwait.
Asmak's project is located near Umm Al Quwain's marine research centre, which will be the ideal platform for exchanging technical knowhow and expertise from its Greek partner, Nireus SA.
Production started earlier this year at Asmak's cage farm in Oman where production is projected to reach 2,460 tonnes annually by 2004. Asmak's venture with Oman's Qurayat Fish Farming is capitalised at RO500,000 ($1.29 million) with Asmak holding 65 per cent. Production at Asmak's Kuwait's joint venture hatchery in Kuwait has also commenced. The partnership with the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research and the Gulf International Fish Farming Co is capitalised at KD100,000 ($329,460).
The Dh18 million Fujairah project is progressing steadily with rearing of juveniles. The project, comprising a 25-hectare offshore cage farm near Dibba, a 5,000 sq m onshore supporting facility and a packaging unit, has a capacity of 2,000 tonnes of fish annually. The state-of-the-art cage farming facility in Ras Al Khaimah is producing sea bream sobaity and other marine fish with a total capacity of 1,200 tonnes annually. Asmak said the surplus of its hatchery production would be available for sale to fish and shrimp farmers or for stocking by conservation authorities.
Incorporated in 1999, Asmak is capitalised at Dh300 million. Core business involves processing and developing fish/marine products and providing consultancy services to the fish industry.
Asmak was set up through the efforts of the UAE Offsets Group (UOG) and with the support of the Abu Dhabi government in 1999 with a paid-in capital of Dh 300 million.
