الثروة السمكية للساحل السعودي من الخليج العربي : دراسة في الجغرافيا الاقتصادية

الملخص EN

The purpose of this study is to identify the geographical distribution of fish centers along the side of the Saudi Eastern Coast of the Arabian Gulf.

The total number of these centers is identified as 15 .

In terms of production, the Jubail center comes on the first place followed by Darin and Qatif centers respectively.

These three centers produce 40% of the total production in the area.

The study revealed that 99% of fish production depends on traditional methods, and only 1% of the total production is assigned for investment purpose, especially for shrimp’s production.

The main outcomes of this study indicate that fish production still lies below the required standard limits, while the level of satisfaction is low (54% out of the total demand which amounts to 127,000 tons in the year 2005).

Therefore, we can say that still we need to continue in importing fish up to the volume of 127,707 metric tones.

This study further confirms the importance of supporting investment fishing and establish specialized factories for processing fish in the cities of Jubail, Darin , and Qatif as these areas are characterized by unique geographical locations in addition to the high density of population and level of fish production.

Accordingly, these three areas have the potentials of becoming the main fish processing centers in the Eastern Province.

The study recommends establishing standard measures for fishing as well as to develop competency of fishermen.

Moreover, the study suggests the need to improve and upgrade fish markets to comply with the international standards such as cold stores.

Besides, the study points out to the importance of conducting further studies to tackle the other geographical elements which were not included in this study.