RIYADH: The Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) revealed plans to fund 70 percent of the total cost of projects launched as part of the Fish Farming Support Program on Monday.
The announcement came during the “Investing in Fish Farming” workshop, run by the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Committee on Agriculture and Food Security and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture.
Saudi Arabia has the potential to become the world’s leading countries in fish farming.
The strategies of the ADF to promote the sector, meanwhile, have also given it advantages over regional competitors, with the Kingdom’s aquaculture production set to reach 970,000 tons per year by 2029.
A paper on fish farming at the workshop though, presented by Saud Al-Otaibi, aquaculture consultant at Coral Coast Co., showed that the country still imports three times as much fish as it produces. It stated that global fisheries production is set to reach 181 million tons by 2022, highlighting the demand for fish and, by extension, the viability of investment in the sector, but also raising questions over issues of sustainability, professional training, quality control and competition from other markets.
Fund to support 70% of fish farming projects in Saudi Arabia
Fund to support 70% of fish farming projects in Saudi Arabia
- Global fisheries production is set to reach 181 million tons by 2022.
Japanese researchers hope to restore coral from Saudi-made structures
- Coral skeletons made for Saudi Pavilion at Japan expo last year
- Results of Japanese study to be revealed at Riyadh Expo 2030
TOKYO: Japanese universities are seeking to restore coral reefs and marine ecosystems after receiving artificial structures that Saudi Arabia made and showcased at last year’s Osaka-Kansai Expo.
The coral skeletons were donated to the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa and Kansai University in Osaka Prefecture, Kyodo News reported at the weekend.
The structures are made from calcium carbonate, a material on which corals are believed to grow more easily compared to artificial alternatives such as concrete or metal.
The skeletal structures were created using 3-D printers, with one piece produced a day during the expo, and displayed across an entire wall in the Saudi Arabia Pavilion, which had an area focusing on sustainable marine environments.
Coral reefs serve as habitats for much marine life, but over 40 percent of the world’s 892 species face possible extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The University of the Ryukyus, which received about 150 of the artificial coral skeletons, will place them in waters off the eastern coast of Okinawa’s main island and then examine their impact on the ecosystem.
Kansai University has placed theirs in the sea around Kagoshima Prefecture’s Yoron Island to observe their growth after transplanting coral polyps onto the structures.
The results of the research are expected to be revealed at the Riyadh Expo in 2030.
“I had never imagined that Japan and Saudi Arabia would cooperate on coral research,” said Masato Ueda, a professor specializing in regenerative medicine at Kansai University.
Ueda said he wants to demonstrate to children that “humanity is attempting to restore the environment.”
