How this mega-project will make Egypt the continent's largest fish producer

[Music] we live at such a time when the threat of global hunger does not manifest itself in any way africa remains the only continent where news on this topic comes from periodically ironically egypt which is predominantly occupied by the lifeless african desert never gets into the headlines of such news of the mass famine how do they do it the epic mega project that will make egypt the largest fish producer on the continent and enhance food security in the country is featured in this video on the innovative techs channel even though the fertile ends along the banks of the nile occupy only 5.5 percent of the country's area the harvest from these lands almost completely covers the population's need for food however not everything is so simple due to climate change and human activities the waters of the nile are less and less saturating arable land with fertile silt which forces the egyptians to use more chemical fertilizers this in turn depletes the soil even more reducing the area of pasture for livestock in arable land in the face of such disappointing dynamics the egyptian authorities decided in the last century to diversify food sources and launched a large campaign to develop the fishing industry to provide the population with protein food before this in the late 1970s the government proposed a plan to accelerate the development of the sector by the end of the reporting period in the mid-1980s annual fish production had jumped from 17 000 tons to 45 000 tons during this period four large fish hatcheries six fish farms and five juvenile fish collection points were built thus in a relatively short period of time egypt successfully diversified its food resources at the same time tens of thousands of people got jobs in the fishing sector as employees and owners of private fish farms on land leased from the state the rapid development of this industry has significantly reduced the cost of fish on the domestic market which made it affordable for the poorest segments of the population farmed fish have become the only source of protein in their diets for many poor people despite all the efforts made egypt has not been able to cover all of its domestic fish needs until recently to solve this problem and go out for export the government of the country initiated a project to build the al faeru's large-scale fish production complex 10 kilometers east of port saeed and 17.5 kilometers from the mediterranean coast the project to create a fish farm with an area of 11 football fields which began in 2017 has been divided into two phases at the first stage preparatory work was carried out including not only the study of the area but also soil samples analysis of rock and measurements of water levels but on the basis of this data the striking scale project was developed 700 ponds occupying more than 8 000 hectares as well as docks measuring 120 by 80 meters accommodating six fishing boats up to 30 meters long for the construction of artificial reservoirs it was required to excavate 500 000 cubic meters of soil backfill 1.5 million cubic meters of rock build artificial slopes with a length of more than 100 kilometers and pour concrete on a surface of 7000 square meters interestingly the project included the creation of a whole complex of auxiliary structures that ensure self-sufficiency and autonomy of work so in addition to the ponds themselves plants for fish processing ice production feed production and packaging as well as a veterinary laboratory complex and birthing facilities were erected on the territory of the mega farm by the way several unique technologies were used in the construction of artificial ponds and supply channels one of them was the use of geosynthetic materials for lining the bottom of reservoirs a low permeability geomembrane placed between compressed sand and concrete has kept constant volumes of water in ponds and canals moreover it has become a barrier against groundwater which could theoretically pollute water in ponds it is important that no chemical compounds were added to the composition of the geo membranes used that could wash out over time which was another step towards creating a highly environmentally friendly project technically the al-fayroo's fish farm is a complex of artificial ponds which received desalinated sea water from the mediterranean sea and from the faeru salt lake through canals at the same time the ponds are divided into several functional zones for breeding juvenile fish growing adult fish and shrimps it is expected that the new mega project will provide jobs for up to ten thousand specialists in various fields and this will naturally improve the economic situation in the region on the global scene the al fairu's in the next 10 years will create a huge value added for the development of the suez canal as well as the sinai peninsula as a result of the emergence of new industrial and urban settlements but to an even greater extent the fish mega-farm will bring the egyptian government's plans to provide the entire population of the country with affordable protein food by 2030 and will allow egypt to export part of its products to the middle east and europe there are all prerequisites for this al-fayroos has already become the largest fish hatchery in africa overtaking lake harvest in zimbabwe which for a time was the largest aquaculture facility on the continent before the construction of the mega farm egypt was the eighth largest fish producer in the world according to the government's calculations the new project will increase production in the country by another 150 000 tons of fish per year that is by 7.5 to the already produced 2 million tons given that the country consumes about 2.4 million tons of fish products annually the new project will make egypt a self-sufficient producer and important exporter of fish in africa and the middle east one more significant positive effect which lies in the plane of geo-economic interests must be pointed out before the construction of the mega farm egyptian fishermen often had to go further out to sea in search of a larger catch which often led to the violation of the maritime borders of neighboring countries the need to swim further from the coast was caused by the depletion of fish stocks in the coastal areas of the mediterranean and red seas as a result of uncontrolled fishing illegal fishing in the sea waters of neighboring states often provoked conflicts and aggression such allegedly random visits of egyptian fishing vessels were regarded by neighbors as extremely unfriendly as encroachments on state natural resources in that respect the al fairus farm allowed to partially solve this problem and save the egyptians from the need to get into someone else's pocket in search of a large catch since ancient times to the present day the inhabitants of egypt had to literally get along with the desert that occupies most of the country the alfayroos project is a great example of how productive and inventive humanity can be in the search for new resources and sources of food that save millions of people from global hunger but to an even greater extent this project is a testament to how the state can and should take care of its citizens when it comes to food independence and the availability of food for all segments of the population there are not so many such examples in the world and al fayro's really deserves applause to the egyptian authorities who have implemented such a unique project from scratch right in the middle of the desert who knows maybe soon egyptian fish will appear on our tables [Music] you

Channel: Innovative Techs

Views: 1,315,330

Keywords: egypt, construction, most amazing, another level, engineering, amazing, facts you didn’t know, science, renewables, technology, new Inventions, change the world, innovation, most, tech, innovative techs, Innovative

Id: ZZDxQPDBe30

Length: 8min 9sec (489 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021