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Iran fishing grounds in southern part of the country is the most important resources for large
pelagic species. There are 4 coastal provinces (Khozeastan, Boshehr, Hormozgan and Sistan&
Blochestan Provinces) beside the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea where they are located between the
longitudes from 48° 30' north to 61° 25' east. Iran, with an interest in fisheries has concluded a
number of bilateral agreements that regulate fishing in the area (through RECOFI and bilateral
agreement e.g. Iraq, Oman, Kuwait and etc.) For Iranian fishermen the Arabian Sea is the gateway
to the northwest Indian Ocean and the opportunity to harvest tuna and other highly migratory large
pelagic species. It has been a tradition for Iranian fishers to fish offshore and in the last few decades
gillnet and purse seine fisheries have become the established fishing method for Iranian fishers in
the international waters of the northwest of the Indian Ocean. So, Iran joint to the Indian Ocean
Tuna Commission (IOTC) in 2002 and it has been one of the active countries in the commission.
In a briefed view the total amount of fish production including catch and aquaculture has
been 1268719 tons in 2020, which around 715401 tons came from catch and 553318 tons from
aquaculture. Around On this way around 140000 fishermen with 11500 different type of vessels
including fishing boats, dhows, Purse seine, Trolling, Trawl and Wire-trap which are engaged in
fishing operation according to time schedule during different fishing seasons in the coastal and
offshore waters and landed their fish in 130 fishing harbors and landing centers. On this way, large
pelagic species catch is one of the most important group of fish that are caught by Iranian
fishermen. There are four fishing gear types which targeting large pelagic species in the IOTC area
of competence , included gillnet, purse seine, long line (by traditional boats) and also some of small
trolling boats in coastal fisheries.
The main fishing grounds for large pelagic species in southern part of the country are located in the
coastal area of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. Total production of tuna and tuna like species
(including by-catch and discards) was 285780 Mt in 2020. This amount of catch contains 69.6%
(198792 Mt) of Tunas, 12,9% (36944 Mt) of Seerfish, 7.7% (21995 Mt) of Billfish, 1.2% (3595 Mt)
different species of shark and 8.6% (25453 Mt) other species.
