The Aquatic Research Centre (ARC) of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) at Ras Matbakh will produce 1,000 tonnes shrimp next year. "Plans are progressing in this regard," ARC director Ibrahim Salman al-Muhannadi recently told Qatar TV.
“The country currently imports 100% of its shrimp requirement from abroad,” he explained. The ARC has two hatcheries, one for fish and the other for shrimp. Modern methods and devices are used for shrimp hatching while a special laboratory measures the extent of shrimp's tolerance to salinity, temperature and diseases. This is in addition to the research to reduce salinity so that shrimp can be farmed in freshwater.
In December 2020, the MME announced the production of the first batch of shrimps at the centre. Out of the total production of around 250,000 shrimp larvae (PL25 type), about 160,000 were moved to the external cages, with work progressing to produce at least 2mn larvae by the end of March 2021.
In an attempt to increase fish production, preserve marine wealth and promote research, the ministry opened ARC in January 2020. The centre focuses on the production of high quality fish as per the needs of the local market. The centre has made a future plan to produce 80mn baby fish and shrimp yearly. In progress is a programme to produce 2.5mn baby fishes of Hamour, yellowfin seabream (Al Shaam) and sparidentex hasta (Al Sobeiti) species. It is also envisaged to produce 15mn baby fish and shrimp during the first three years by making use of 180 ponds.
After three years of producing Hamour, Al Shaam, Al Sobeiti and local shrimp, there is a plan to focus on specific species, in order to achieve self-sufficiency and meet the needs of the local market.
