One of the Samkna farm cages.
Samkna — the aquaculture project using floating cages technology in open water — has successfully started production, meeting around 20 percent local demand.
The project set up by Al Qamra Holding under Food Security Programme of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), is located 53km northeast of Ruwais in the country's north.
“Receiving overwhelming response from local market due to high quality and freshness of the product, the company has planned to expand the project,”General Manager of Samkna, Mohamad Al Qamra, told The Peninsula.
He said that from harvesting to packaging and supply chain enabled Samkna products to reach from farm to the shelves in local market within 8 hours, maintaining high level of freshness.
Mohammed Al Qamra, General Manager of Samkna.
Al Qamra said the project in an area of 900,000 sqm comprising 16 floating cages is currently supplying Qatari sea bass (commonly known as barramundi or Asian sea bass) to local market in large quantities. “We started farming with sea bass because it is a stronger species and grows faster in warm water, has delicious taste, and is rich in Omega 3.
He said phase I of the project (16 cages and the packaging line) has been completed. Farming started in May 2020, while harvest started in November 2020.
Phase 1 provides a capacity to produce 2,000 MT (stage one) per annum of sea bass fish for the local market consumption,” said Al Qamra. “Phase 1 of the project consists of surveying, analysing, designing and installing an offshore farm of 16 cages, each 90 metres in circumference. The cages have fish growing nets of 15-metre deep, and predator nets of 17-metre deep.”
He said the cages are serviced by a feed barge with feed storage capacity of 320 tonnes, fully automated feeding system and staff accommodation.
“The Fish Farm has an offshore station comprising a jack-up barge that is used for staff welfare, storage and regular maintenance purposes. Net washing station have also been installed at the project. Preparation is underway to set up a berthing jetty at Ruwais Port,” Al Qamra said.
He said phase two — expansion of the project — is expected to be completed in two years. “This phase includes building a hatchery, nursery, blast freezing, filleting and sea food processing line (value-added products) to the process factory,” he added.
Al Qamra said the second phase of the project is aimed at increasing the size and production capacity of the fish farm from 16 to 32 cages, and building and commissioning of a hatchery and nursery with a capacity of 10 million fingerlings per annum.
“The expansion plan also includes one well boat , landing craft, crew boats and two catamarans for the daily operations of the offshore cages and harvesting,” said Al Qamra.
He said it is also planned to expand the existing processing plant and installation of a filleting line and IQF Freezer at the onshore factory.
“The state-of-the art fish farm has been completed for full monitoring system under water and includes 52 anchors, 1,250-metre chains, 6,920-metre ropes, 27 buoys and four navigational buoys,” said Al Qamra.
He said the seafood lovers will relish current product of the Qatari sea bass, the red snapper and the yellow fin seabream and sobaity seabream species in (Phase Two) from the Samkna fish farm.
Al Qamra said that Samkna for Trading and Import, the owning and operating company of Samkna fish farm, was established in 2015 by Al Qamra Holding, in a move to support the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030.
“In its first stage, it is expected that Samkna will contribute to raising the self-sufficiency rate of fish in the country by up to 20 percent by providing 2,000 tons of fresh fish annually,” said Al Qamra.
“In order to ensure the high quality of fish and short delivery time to consumers, a specialised factory for sorting and packaging was built in the Ruwais region near the project site on an area of 10,000 square metres,” said Al Qamra.
He said a low temperature of 0-4 degrees centigrade is maintained all the time from the moment of harvesting, transport of fish to the factory, and the packing process until the fish reaches the consumer to ensure the best quality and product freshness.
“The project has been established in an environmentally responsible manner. It is of low-risk based on the following facts. There are no coal power plants nor large dams or mining sites near the fish farm. Clean electricity for the processing plant is provided by Kahramaa,” said Al Qamra.
He said there are no indigenous people who will be affected by the project. “There is no sensitive biodiversity or cultural heritage site on this project. The fish cages are located 53km offshore where there is no critical habitat, corals affected by the farm mooring systems,” said Al Qamra.
He said the sea water depth of the fish farm is 39.5m. “The strong current speed at this depth prevents accumulation under the cages.
