MUSCAT: Highlighting the immense growth potential of Oman's shrimp aquaculture industry, a prominent state-backed player is poised to establish a large-scale partnership with an international company in a deal worth approximately $1.6 billion.
Leading the charge is Fisheries Development Oman (FDO), the investment arm of Oman Investment Authority (OIA) in the fisheries sector. FDO oversees a growing portfolio of fisheries and aquaculture projects throughout the Sultanate of Oman. Two of its subsidiaries, National Shrimp Aquaculture Co and Oriental Shrimp Aquaculture Co, currently operate shrimp farms in strategic locations across the country.
Earlier this week, OIA, the parent company, announced that a significant partnership deal is currently in progress. "We are actively working towards creating investment opportunities in shrimp farming through a strategic partnership with a global company, valued at $1.6 billion," stated the integrated wealth fund in its 2023 Annual Report.
According to the report, the shrimp harvests from FDO's subsidiaries more than doubled to 2,673 tonnes in 2023, compared to 1,076 tonnes the previous year. Other notable achievements in FDO's 2023 performance include commercial fish catches of small and pelagic species reaching 44,762 tonnes, up from 42,555 tonnes in 2022. However, European sea bream fish production experienced a slight decline to 1,867 tonnes, down from 2,101 tonnes in the previous year.
In the previous year, FDO's Oriental Shrimp Aquaculture commenced operations for its modern shrimp farm project in Khuwaimah, Jalan Bani Bu Ali. Covering an expanse of 200 hectares, the facility has the capability to produce 3500 tonnes of shrimp annually.
A year prior, National Shrimp Aquaculture initiated FDO's first shrimp farm in Qurun, Jalan Bani Bu Hassan Wilayat. Spanning 500 hectares, it has an annual capacity of 4,600 tonnes. Additionally, in 2023, National Shrimp unveiled a hatchery in Barka, South Al Batinah Governorate, to function as a breeding ground for shrimp seed cultivation and a testing ground for upcoming shrimp farm projects.
CEO of FDO Group, Nabil al Salim al Bimani, disclosed that FDO is in the final stages of designing its flagship shrimp farming project, slated for Al Jazer on the Al Wusta coast. This project will have a substantial capacity of 20,000 tonnes of shrimp per year.
The previous year also saw a notable increase in FDO's investments in various sectors of its diverse fisheries portfolio. Just recently, its wholly-owned subsidiary Oman Pelagic received a state-of-the-art commercial fishing vessel, ADAMAS, from a Spanish shipyard. This delivery came less than a year after the same shipyard provided the sister ship ACILA to enhance FDO's commercial fishing activities.
