Egypt's ambition of constructing the largest fish farm in the Middle East is materializing on the international coastal road in the Berket Ghalioun area in the Metoubas locality,Kafr El-Sheikh governorate. The National Fish Farming Project is to be built on an area spanning 2,750 feddans, costing 1.7 billion Egyptian pounds. Egypt's aqua-cultural production ranks seventh in the world, according to the FAO, and ranks first in Africa in fish production. In 2016, Egypt produced 1.5 million tonnes of fish, according to the General Authority for Fish Wealth Development. In the same year, it imported 236,000 tons of fish, worth 16 percent of total fish production. The project consists of a hatchery for fish and shrimp on an area of 17 feddans with a capacity of 20 million fish and two billion shrimp. On top of this, a marine farm will produce up to 3,000 tonnes of fish per cycle, a shrimp farm 2,000 tonnes, and a freshwater fish farm will produce up to fish 2,000 tons per cycle. The project will also include a research and development center on an area of 700 square meters, a marine fish feed plant on an area of 1,500 square metress with a production capacity of 120,000 tonnes annually, a shrimp feed plant on an area of 570 meters with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons, and a foam factory on an area of 1,200 square meters to produce fish and shrimp containers. Further, an ice factory will be built on an area of 450 meters, with a production capacity of 40 tonnes of crushed ice each day, and 20 tonnes of ice blocks for freezing fish and shrimp. Source: Al-Masry Al-Youm
