Palestinian fish farm proves successful
Odd Grydeland In order to increase the consumption of health-promoting fresh fish from the current three kilograms per person per year, Palestinian authorities are encouraging the development of aquaculture, as described in this article by the Ma’an News Agency; Yasser Hamdan’s fish farming project in the northern West Bank has been hailed as a new Palestinian economic success story, as the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture seeks to emulate his accomplishments with Brazilian funding to assist the industry’s development. Hamdan, known also as Abu Ammar, 47, has successfully implemented a natural fish farming method that consists of 10 homemade water basins and constant vigilance to ensure the water’s temperature does not drop below 13 degrees Celsius. This, Hamdan told Ma’an, is the key to guaranteeing that the fish live and grow naturally. It is estimated that every basin produces 900 kilograms of a variety of fish. Although Hamdan started his project three years ago with his five children, he only began to sell his farmed fish to Palestinians this year, at 20 Israeli Shekels (~€ 3.50) per kilogram. Since the project’s inception, costs involved in raising fish commercially have reached 75,000 Shekels (~€ 13,136). Yasser Shtayya, director of aquaculture in the Ministry of Agriculture, told Ma’an that Hamdan’s project is considered a ground-breaking project in the northern West Bank, adding that the ministry intends to support the development of similar projects across the West Bank. Shtayya further added that while Palestinians consume approximately 90,000 tons of fish every year, the Palestinian rate of consumption has remained at three kilograms per person in comparison with the global consumption rate of 13 kilograms per person. This, the Minister revealed, is the result of the high price of fish in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Ministry of Agriculture will implement a 736,000 US dollar (~€ 491,000) project allocated to fish farming in the West Bank, which is funded by Brazil, Shtayya said.
