Economic Efficiency of Marine Fish Farms in Egypt

Abstract

Fish farming has a key role in bridging the fish food gap and it has been shown that the percentage of Fish self-sufficiency reached 86.63% in 2016. It contributes about 80% of the total fish production in Egypt. The fish production from aquaculture was estimated at 1.370 million tons in 2016. But marine fish farming accounted for only about 5% of the total fish farming in Egypt. Fish production from marine fish farming was estimated at 67 424 000 tons of marine fish. This study aimed to measure the economic efficiency of marine fish farms, estimation of fish production growth rates and statistical estimation of producing countries. The most important results included the decrease in fish production from capture fisheries and especially marine fish production. The production of marine fish farms accounts for about 5% of the total fish farming. This study showed that the most important factors affecting the production of marine fish are the number of seeds used, the amount of food provided and also the years of experience. As it turns out that the technical efficiency amounted to 0.960. 0.962. 0.954 and the economic efficiency was 0.390. 0.394. 0.715 in the three categories respectively. The study recommended the establishment of marine fish hatcheries in Egypt. It needed to activate the role of the extension sector in information orientation for farmers. The study recommended the need to incorporate new varieties in the process of cultures such as snake fish and grouper.