Monday 24 February 2025 
In the sector, the Minister of Fishing and Fisheries Production, Hicham Sofiane Salaouatchi, has made giant strides, Algeria having been able to build large vessels for fishing exceeding 35 meters, which has allowed a resumption of the manufacture and maintenance of vessels in Algeria, and created opportunities that can be realized in this field, particularly with regard to deep sea fishing, in addition to the fields of aquaculture and training.
Through his field visits to fishing ports, and his meetings with professionals in this sector, the Minister wishes to emphasize that his objective is that all professionals receive the same level of treatment and in a comfortable manner, believing that to ensure good conditions, first and foremost the concern of fishermen, and the manufacture and development of all the means and gear used in this activity, in addition to the definition of sites and mooring plans, which will inevitably lead to raising fish production.
Salaouatchi revealed, during one of his field visits to the fishing port of Tipasa, that many companies specializing in the construction and maintenance of ships in 12 wilayas have benefited, over the past six months, from the support of the Ministry of Fishing and Fisheries Production, referring in this regard to three establishments, one in the port of Zemmouri in the wilaya of Boumerdes, and two others in the ports of Honaïne and Sidi youchaa in the wilaya of Tlemcen.
The Minister also explained that an inter-ministerial commission (composed of the sectors of Fishing, Interior, Industry and Transport), whose constitution the President of the Republic ordered, which gave rise to the installation of 16 commissions of wilayas which are currently working hard to ensure spaces and land bases, at the level of ports and activity zones, for the benefit of operators in the field of shipbuilding.
At the top of the Ministry’s plans and objectives, as Salaouatchi said, is to increase the production of marine fisheries resources, through the development of a strategy that has begun to be implemented, represented by the strengthening of the construction and the manufacture of vessels intended for fishing on the high seas, a fact which requires, according to Salaouatchi, “the promotion of the naval industry and its development in such a way as to enable it to build vessels with technical characteristics allowing fishing on the high seas and in bad weather, and having a length of more than 25 meters at least”, he explained.
The sector’s strategy also aims to “promote aquaculture activity, as the second factor for strengthening national capacities in fisheries production”, noted the minister, noting the realization, over the last six months, of three projects in Tlemcen, Boumerdes and Skikda, with an estimated production of nearly 1,400 tonnes/year of gilthead seabream.
“The sector also relies heavily on continental aquaculture, especially Tilapia, introduced to the markets of the capital, despite production limited to nearly 100 tonnes nationally,” said the Minister, assuring the possibility of raising the production of this type of fish to a high level and of generalizing the experience of the wilaya of Khenchela to other wilayas in the interior of the country.
Minister Salaouatchi, during the visit of a Mauritanian parliamentary delegation to Algeria a few days ago, had confirmed that certain concessionaires in the field of maritime fishing wish to go fishing in Mauritanian territorial waters, and that his ministerial department is in the process of reissuing the five licenses granted by Mauritania to the Algerian concessionaires under the agreement signed in Nouakchott in 2013.
Ahmed Achour