News Aquaculture
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t’s hard to imagine a more inhospitable landscape. Beyond the shores of the Gulf in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), parched sand dunes roll across the desert for hundreds of kilometres. It’s no mirage. In fact, three-quarters of the country is covered by desert. Summer temperatures often soar above 40 degrees Celsius, and freshwater is hard to find. This ancient land recalls centuries of history, but these days the country’s dunes are better known for tourist safaris than their agricultural productivity. Fishing or farming in such a harsh environment seems ambitious. But FAO has partnered with the UAE in a joint project to develop and expand the country’s fledgling fish farming industry. The aim is to make aquaculture more energy efficient and economically viable to meet the demands of a growing population and their appetite for fish. “FAO is working with the government to make the UAE a global hub for agricultural
46 Gulf Agriculture | www.gulfagriculture.com
FISHING FOR CHANGE IN THE EMIRATI DESERT technology and innovation,” says Lionel Dabbadie, a Senior Fisheries and Aquaculture Officer at FAO. “Fish farming is a great example of innovation being successfully applied.” Consumer appetites have changed In the Arab Peninsula, Emiratis are among the biggest fish consumers and the orange spotted grouper known as ‘Hamour’ is a local favourite. But as consumer demand has grown, fish stocks have plummeted. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had an impact on consumer expectations and demands for locally produced food. Even though the UAE is a country that needs to import 90 percent of its food requirements, more and more consumers now want to source their food closer to home. So there is enormous potential.
With technical support from FAO, the UAE is investing in modern technologies to build sustainable and profitable aquaculture production that will maintain the country’s fish supply, improve its food security and transform its food system. There has already been incredible progress. “We are at the beginning; we are working with pioneers,” says Dabbadie, who has had almost 30 years’ experience as a scientist and aquaculture expert in countries as diverse as Brazil, Madagascar, Thailand and the Philippines. Innovation and technology for sustainable aquaculture FAO estimates that freshwater availability has decreased by two thirds in the Near East and North Africa in the past 40 years, and it is expected to fall by another 50 percent by 2050. However, experts have found ways to use desert salt water, or brackish water, for fish
January-February 2021
