The Aquatic Research Centre at Ras Matbakh has produced 200,000 baby shrimps at its shrimp hatchery unit as part of the centre’s efforts to ensure food security in Qatar.
"The baby shrimps were produced by 150 mother shrimps that were imported to the hatchery," Centre director Ibrahim Salman al-Muhannadi told local Arabic daily 'Arrayah'.
"The plan is to have production twice a year and attain an annual shrimp production of 2mn in the country by supporting local fish farms.
“Works are underway to issue licences to local farms and extend them support to produce baby shrimps,” he explained.
In an attempt to increase fish production, preserve marine wealth and promote research, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) opened the centre in January this year at Ras Matbakh in Al Khor and Al Thakira Municipality. The centre focuses on the production of high-quality fish as per the needs of the local market.
"Research programmes have been launched for studying the growth of various local fishes that are produced at the incubation units at the centre and a database about the growth of baby fishes will be prepared.
"The centre is working on a programme to produce 2.5mn baby fishes of Hamour, yellowfin seabream (Al Shaam) and sparidentex hasta (Al Sobeiti) this year.
"There is an integrated unit for the production of algae. Hamour was selected as it is one of the fish that is in huge demand in the local market and caught in a big way.
"One of the main goals of the centre is production, and not commercial purposes. Food security and reviving the marine environment are its focus, as assigned by the MME. The plan is to supply sufficient quantities to the local market and expert the rest," the official added.
Recently, a team in the Fisheries Department of the MME released 4,300 baby hamour fish weighing 15gm each into the sea. This came as a continuation of the programme to enrich the country's fish stock, which involves the local production of fish of high economic value and releasing them in the local waters to enhance the stock of such types of fish and achieve food security.
