Iran launches its largest mobile fish farm in Golestan
province

Iran has started the country’s largest open sea cage farming
project on its Caspian coasts in the northeastern Golestan province.

With a diameter of 30 meters, an area of more than 700
square meters, and a height of six and a half meters, the mobile cage is
capable of producing over 30 tons of fish per cycle.

Based on the Iranian ministry’s comprehensive plan for
expansion of fish farming, over 8,000 tons of fish will be produced in the
province over the course of two years. It will create jobs for 800 people
directly and 1,600 people indirectly in the city of Gomishan.

In addition to its economic function, the largest mobile
hatchery for fish breeding in Gomishan could be also a tourist spot for the
beauty it creates in the largest inland body of water.

Cage fish farming is a relatively new method in Iran,
whereby cages are placed in lakes, ponds, rivers or seas to breed fish until
they can be harvested. The practice, under which fishes are grown in mesh
enclosures, has expanded as farmers have found it to be profitable because of
the scope to grow a higher quantity of fishes in cages compared to ponds,
according to fisheries officials, farmers and researchers.