Norway surveys Myanmar’s fish stocks

Scienists from Norway are to help update research on the volume and type of fish stocks in Myanmar’s home waters as a part of a 38-day project assisting the management of fisheries resources, officials from the Myanmar Fisheries Department said.norgeship

The Norwegian research vessel Dr Fridtjof Nansen will set off on November 13 from Yangon’s Nan Thidar port to conduct the survey.

“We will compare the findings with previous research data,” said U Mya Than Tun, deputy director of the fisheries development and research department.

“Our vessel will operate in depths of 20 to 500 meters along the Rakhine and Tanintharyi coast, with five Norwegian and 11 Myanmar researchers,” maritime expert Bjorn Krafft told The Myanmar Times.

The data will include the number and species of fish and the volume that can be caught per hour. “The fisheries department can estimate the amount of fish that they have to catch within a year on the basis of these data, which will help us avoid overfishing,” said U Mya Than Tun. Daw Toe Nandar Tin, owner of Annawa Daewi fish factory, said existing fisheries data was more than 30 years old, and that the new research would help guide operations over the next 10 years.

“This is a good opportunity for us. With this research, we’ll know the amount of fish and species in Myanmar waters,” she said.

The Norwegian vessel has also worked off the west coast of Africa, and will conduct other research projects off Thailand and Bangladesh. The Norwegian government is contributing US$593,000 to the fisheries research project.

Source: Myanmar Times

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