“Iran produced 170,000 tons of salmon last year (ended March 20, 2019) at the value of $580 million,” Hossein Ali Abdolhay said.
As he said, according to the data provided by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Iran is the biggest salmon producer in the world.
“All the 32 provinces of Iran are active in salmon breeding, while 90 percent to 95 percent of the bred salmon is consumed domestically,” he added.
“There are 6,500 active units in this sector in Iran which have created 27,000 jobs,” Abdolhay said.
Iran’s total seafood production stood at more than 1.2 million tons in the fiscal (2017-2018), indicating a 9.9% increase compared with the year before. Around 724,817 tons of the total sum were harvested from the sea and the remaining 477,269 tons were produced in aquatic farms.
According to Hassan Salehi, the head of Iran Fisheries Organization, "Iran is the 24th biggest producer of seafood in the world."
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