A Review of the Challenges and Opportunities of Start-ups Businesses in the Persian Gulf Aquaculture with Export Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to identify the challenges and opportunities in the aquaculture industry in the southern regions of Iran. We used statistics and information published by the Iranian Fisheries Organization and interviews with aquaculture industry owners and their challenges with focusing on their impact on rural poverty and development. The results showed six challenges including the weakness in the management and the lack of competence and politicization of specialized activities at high levels, the mismatch of organizations that operate in protecting aquaculture, and the weakness of education and promotion of aquaculture. In addition, other challenges are the traditional markets and lack of marketing, the lack of infrastructure required by the government with a national perspective and regional development, and the lack of integration of university-organizations related and manufacturers. In addition, there were eight opportunities including the young age of the fisheries industry in Iran, the increased demand for fisheries products, the abundance of coastal waters for aquaculture in southern Iran, the possibility of using knowledge of aquatic abroad, the importance of the Persian Gulf as the main area located on the east-west corridor, human and specialist's resources, strategic characteristics, creation of export-based employment and regional development. Today, aquaculture is very beneficial in terms of not only employment and livelihood, but in addition to other comparative advantages for which it is fully justified as an enterprise and unit of production that can produce commercially available goods to the consumer market. This issue, especially in the southern provinces of the country and especially Hormozgan province, which has considerable potential in this field, is in the absence and justification of industrial activities as a prospect of development of the province.

Keywords

• aquaculture
• business
• challenges
• persian gulf