Morocco has the capacity to produce some 1.5 million tons of fish, said director of the chamber of fisheries in the southwestern town of Agadir. Abdefatah Zine told MAP that, for many years now, Morocco ranks 25 internationally in terms of halieutic production with 700,000 tons per annum, adding that the kingdom has officially exceeded the threshold of 1.5 million tons in 2000.
The official stressed the need to upgrade the basic infrastructure and the Moroccan fleet, whose average age, he deplored, is over 20 years.
He summed up the hindrances facing the sector mainly in the lack of the required infrastructure, the low national consumption owing to the soaring fish prices, the absence of a marketing network, the unbalance between supply and demand, and the absence of an appropriate control system.
