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Muscat - An ambitious initiative to farm fish in the open seas off the North Al Batinah coast gets under way next year with the launch of a pilot scale project, according to an Omani entrepreneur spearheading the venture. The project, branded ‘Sahwa’, is a partnership involving an Omani small and medium enterprise, local fishing communities, and prominent US-based international open ocean fish farming specialist Forever Oceans.
“Our goal is to implement a large-scale, sustainable aquaculture venture that can potentially meet 25 per cent of Oman’s national production target for aquaculture,” said Warith al Kharusi, CEO of Al Safwa Group & Partners, a well-established Omani business house with diverse commercial interests.
“We have received a concession from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to develop this open ocean farming venture off Khabourah on the Sultanate’s North Al Batinah Governorate. Environmental impact assessment is ongoing, and so is our engagement with local communities, which is a critical part of our initiative.”
Warith al Kharusi
Giving an overview of this unique mariculture project at the ‘Invest in Oman’ Forum last week, Al Kharusi said the Sahwa venture is proposed to come up on a 150 hectare swathe of open sea around 15 kilometres off Khabourah. It centres on the farming of Amberjack fish, which is a high-value sashimi-grade product coveted in Japan and the Far East, but also popular in Oman. Around 8,000 tonnes of this species is proposed to be farmed annually in giant cages deployed at depths of around 50-80 metres in the ocean, he explained.
Later, in comments to the Observer, Al Kharusi stressed that offshore aquaculture offers a practical, competitive and sustainable route to achieving Oman’s strategic economic diversification and food security goals. “With land being a finite commodity, the option to go offshore for aquaculture opens up limitless possibilities, especially at a time when the global demand for food resources is rising in the face of population growth. Moreover, the open sea provides a natural environment for the fish, as opposed to farming them onshore.
“Of course, farming in the open ocean poses its own set of challenges. We will require automation and a robust communications platform to offset the need for a manned presence at site. We envisage a capital investment of $20 million across the three stages of the project, with a commitment of around $5 million for the pilot phase.”
Additionally, the project has major implications for Oman’s food security strategy, according to the entrepreneur.
“Output is planned to reach around 8,000 tonnes per annum by 2024, which will account for one-quarter of the Sultanate’s targeted production of fish through aquaculture activities by this timeframe. So we’re looking at a venture that will not only bolster our food security goals, but also underscore the aquaculture industry’s importance as a promising alternative to Oil & Gas based economic activities,” Al Kharusi noted.
First conceptualised some five years ago, a full-scale business case of the Sahwa project has since been developed, said Al Kharusi. The promoters are currently seeking international investors and partners, as well as support from the Omani Authority for Partnership for Development (OAPFD), and Public Authority for SME Development (Riyada), he added.
© Oman Daily Observer 2016
