KISR successful in cultivating and breeding shim fish

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), represented by the Environment and Life Sciences Research Center, announced a new scientific achievement, which is the success in cultivating and breeding shim fish for the first time in ponds using the closed system for recycling ultra-pure water and providing the appropriate environment for this species with accurate scientific standards and specifications.

Acting Director General of KISR, Dr. Manea Al-Sedirawi, stated in a press statement that the start of cultivating shim fish in the institute’s special breeding ponds is a unique achievement that contributes to raising the name of the State of Kuwait high and advancing the development in the fish farming industry in the country and thus providing food security.

For her part, the head of the project, an expert in aquaculture, Amani Al-Yaqout, said that the institute is the first research institution in the world to adopt the idea of developing a culture system for this important type of fish, using a closed system that contributes to preserving the limited groundwater in the State of Kuwait and allows controlling the appropriate environmental requirements for the cultivation of each type of fish.

Al – Yaqout pointed out that the extinction of shim fish is due to several factors, including overfishing and the high salinity of the water as a result of the lack of fresh water flowing into the waters of the northern Arabian Gulf in recent years. She added that water pollution and the destruction of marine environment habitats also negatively affect important marine fish species and all marine organisms in general, as fisheries provide only 15 percent of the local market’s needs, while 85 percent is imported from other countries.