Challenges of Fish Farming and its Role in Achieving Self-Sufficiency from Fish in Egypt

The research aims to identify the challenges of fish farming and its role in achieving self-sufficiency in fish in Egypt during the period (2000-2018). The necessary to ensure the correctness of the obtained results from a statistical and logical point of view, dummy variables, a distribution test for independent samples, and the growth equation, in addition to some economic indicators related to the study.
The study reached several results, the most important of which are: (1) The economic efficiency of fish production, plant production, animal production and insect production was estimated at about 1173.78, 570.70, 68.40, 700 in the same order during the period under study, due to the low production costs of fish production in Egypt, which amount to about 2.22% of the total production costs of the agricultural sector during that period, in addition to the rapid turnover of capital invested in the field of fish farming compared to other agricultural fields. (2) Freshwater fish contribute about 83.10% of the total fish production in Egypt during the period (2010-2019), and this percentage is distributed among the fish of those waters, represented by tilapia, catfish, carp, white and crust bead as well as the following are 67.31%, 0.83%, 14.88%, 0.04% and 0.0002% in the same order. As for the fish that are farmed in mixed waters and represented by the mullet family, they contribute about 12.20% of the total fish production farmed in Egypt during that period, while the fish that are farmed In salt water, it contributes about 4.74% of the total fish production farmed in Egypt during that period, and this percentage is distributed among the fish of those waters, represented in each of the bass, the lot, the bream, the Hanshan, the gar, the shrimp and the Shargoush as follows: 1.63%, 1.18%, 1.79% , 0.0003%, 0.00002%, 0.13% and 0.0002% in the same order. (3) Private farms occupy the first place in the production of farmed fish with an estimated rate of about 80.56% of the total fish production farmed in Egypt during that period. Fresh water fish represented about 81.90%, then mixed water fish by 12.30% and saltwater fish by 5.80%, then comes in the second place is the culture in floating cages, which represents about 16.43% of the total fish production farmed in Egypt during that period. Freshwater fish are represented by about 86.50%, then mixed water fish by 13.30% and saltwater fish by 0.2%. The third place comes from culture in Rice fields with a percentage of about 1.91% of the total fish production farmed in Egypt during that period, followed by government farms, intensive aquaculture and semi-intensive aquaculture, where each of them amounted to about 0.89%, 0.14%, and 0.06% in the same order. (4) It was found that each of the variable average price per ton of farmed fish in thousands of pounds and the number of fresh water fry and fingerlings produced in private hatcheries in million units have a positive impact on the amount of production of farmed fish, and to estimate the relative importance of these variables in their impact on the amount of production of farmed fish , as it was found that the variable average price per ton of fish farmed in thousands of pounds occupies the first place in its impact on the amount of production, followed by the variable number of fresh water fry and fingerlings produced in private hatcheries in million units, where the standard partial regression coefficient for each is estimated at about 0.959, 0.240 on straight. (5) It was found that the average percentage of fish farming’s contribution to the fish self-sufficiency rate during the period under study was about 53.83%, with a standard deviation of about 11.62%. The time period is about 66.99%, with an average relative change rate of about 26.69%, with an annual growth rate of about 3.90%. (6) The most important challenges of fish farming in Egypt are: the multiplicity of administrative bodies supervising the fisheries sector, the absence of a law regulating work in the field of fish farming, the misuse of water resources in Egypt, the difficulty of applying the bio-safety system to Egyptian fish farms, and the low productivity Fries and the high percentage of wastage of them in all stages of circulation between collection and unloading centers and culture sites, and the lack of fish feed is one of the most important challenges of fish farming, as farms depend on agricultural residues and grain feed, which requires the expansion of their production locally.
The study reached some recommendations, the most important of which are: (1) Establishing a unified administrative body that works to facilitate the legal procedures for the investment process in the fish farming sector and the issuance of approvals and permits to increase the attraction of investors to this sector. (2) The development of a specific, integrated, and articulated law regulating work in the field of fish farming that guarantees coordination between all relevant authorities in this field and includes clear explanations for all matters related to fish farming. (3) Optimum utilization of water resources used in the field of fish farming in Egypt. (4) The necessity of applying Aquaponics systems on a large scale in fish farms, which is one of the modern breeding systems for integrated closed fish farming between plants and fish. (5) Implementation of the bio-security system for fish farms, with the development of incentive policies for this purpose. (6) The need to increase the role of fish extension in the field of fish farming of all kinds through the need to pay attention to the establishment of extension fish farms that are responsible for the wide application of laboratory experiments in the areas of nutrition and fish diseases in preparation for their actual application on fish farms if their productive feasibility and contribution to increasing fish production are proven.