Muscat: The Sultanate witnessed a sharp growth in the number of fish landings as per a new report released by the NCSI.

The total quantity of fish landed in the Sultanate reached 446,881 tons at the end of August 2020 when compared with 323,335 tons during the same period of 2019. This is a 38.2 per cent increase, as per statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

Traditional fishing practices in the Sultanate contributed to 422,161 tons of fish at the end of August 2020, constituting a rise of 36.3 per cent over 309,821 tons in 2019.

The total value of the fish stock was RO209.44 million in 2020, representing a growth of 21 per cent over RO173.13 million in 2019.

Coastal fishing and commercial fishing contributed to about 2,414 tons and 22,307 tons of total fish landings, respectively, at the end of August 2020.

The Governorate of Al Wusta had the highest fish landing at 149,728 tons, followed by the Governorate of South A’Sharqiyah at 121,753 tons, and North and South Al Batinah at 56,571 tons.

Meanwhile, the quantity of fish landed in the Governorate of Dhofar was 51,034 tons, and the quantity in Musandam was 21,662 tons. The landed quantity in Governorate of Muscat stood at 21,413 tons.

According to fish landing by species, the largest quantity of fish landed at the end of August 2020 comprised of small pelagic fishes at 242,944 tons, compared to 193,728 tons at the end of August 2019, a rise of 25.4 per cent.

The quantity of large pelagic fish rose by 84.3 per cent to reach 104,489 tons at the end of August 2020 compared to 56,691 tons at the end of August 2019.

The quantity of demersal fish landed reached 61,374 tons, an increase of 27.7 per cent compared to August 2019 when it was 48,080 tons. Meanwhile, there was a rise in the quantity of crustaceans and molluscs by 33.1 per cent.