Aqua Fisheries Aquaculture LLC
Aquafaq, on Dalma Island.
Established in 2020 to raise marine fish on Dalma: sea cages now, with a hatchery, feed plant and processing planned for later phases.
Aqua Fisheries Aquaculture LLC
One island. Sea cages now. A full chain planned.
Aquafaq is the public name of Aqua Fisheries Aquaculture LLC, a company established in 2020. Its ground is Dalma Island in the Arabian Gulf, off western Abu Dhabi.
- 2020Year established
- 0Years on the lease
- 0Plants
- 0Later phases
The lease is published as 156,118 square metres onshore and 250,000 square metres offshore. At sea: floating cages in real Gulf water, the current offering, at a design capacity of 5,000 tonnes. On land: space reserved for a hatchery, a feed plant and a processing plant.
Those onshore plants are planned for later phases, after Phase 3. The hatchery is planned at 40 million juveniles a year, the feed plant at 60,000 tonnes (twelve times cage capacity) and processing at 20,000 tonnes. Shrimp in recirculating systems and mud crab in a vertical system are future projects, each planned at 5,000 tonnes.
Nothing on this website is a licence, a contract, a personal file, or a claim that those volumes have already been harvested. The figures are design capacities.
Dalma Island
Gulf water for the cages. Land reserved for later phases.
Dalma lies in the Arabian Gulf, off the western coast of Abu Dhabi. The island already has a harbour, a road and a living town. The lease uses that geography twice: open seawater for the sea cages today, and an onshore plot reserved for a hatchery, a feed plant and a processing plant in later phases, after Phase 3.
Coordinates published here are 24.50° N, 52.30° E. The offshore water is for circular floating cages. Once the later phases are built, seed and harvest are meant to make only a short crossing before they are prepared.
Why this platform
The UAE eats a great deal of seafood. Most of it was not farmed here.
When the platform was defined, seafood consumption in the UAE was estimated at about 28.6 kilograms per person a year — among the highest rates in the world. National consumption was put near 226,000 tonnes a year. Capture fisheries supplied about 70,000 tonnes. Aquaculture supplied about 3,250 tonnes.
That gap is the public reason for raising marine fish in Gulf cages on Dalma, with a hatchery, feed plant and processing planned for later phases. The figures below are the planning basis from that time. They are not a live market reading for this year.
These figures are the planning basis from when the platform was defined. They are not a live reading of this year's market.
The public sequence
From a 2020 company to sea cages on Dalma, with more plants planned.
- 2020
Company established
Aqua Fisheries Aquaculture LLC is established. Aquafaq is the name used in public.
- Lease
Dalma ground, twice
156,118 m² onshore reserved for the hatchery, mill and processing plant planned for later phases. 250,000 m² offshore for Gulf cages.
- Chain
A chain planned around one crossing
Juveniles, feed, grow-out and processing are planned as neighbours: cages first, onshore plants in later phases after Phase 3.
- Water
Cultivation as daily work
Eggs, live feed, pellets, cages, oxygen and ice — the crop is the water, not a harvest-day visit.
- Later
Shrimp and mud crab
Future projects: 5,000 tonnes of shrimp in RAS, and 5,000 tonnes of mud crab in a vertical system.
Future projects
Future projects: shrimp in closed water, mud crab in a vertical system.
Two future projects sit behind the marine-fish chain: shrimp and mud crab. They are not an extra net on the same cage — different animals, different water, different buildings — each planned at 5,000 tonnes.
Questions
What this platform is — and what the numbers are not.
What is Aquafaq?
Aquafaq is the public name of Aqua Fisheries Aquaculture LLC, established in 2020. It raises marine fish in sea cages off Dalma Island, Abu Dhabi. The hatchery, feed plant and processing plant are planned for later phases, after Phase 3. Shrimp and mud crab are future projects.
Why Dalma Island?
Dalma sits in the Arabian Gulf west of Abu Dhabi city, with harbour, road and town already there. The lease uses 250,000 m² of open Gulf water for the cages, and 156,118 m² onshore reserved for the hatchery, mill and processing plant planned for later phases.
Are the capacities already produced?
No. Figures on this site are design capacities: 5,000 tonnes of sea cages now; 40 million juveniles a year, 60,000 tonnes of feed and 20,000 tonnes of processing planned for later phases after Phase 3; and 5,000 tonnes each for shrimp and mud crab as future projects. They are not fish already landed.
How is the fish cultivated?
The full sequence is broodstock and eggs, larvae on live feed then dry pellets, grow-out in floating Gulf cages, daily work on oxygen, density and ration, then humane kill, bleed and ice. Grow-out in cages is the current work; the hatchery, feed and processing steps are planned for later phases.
Why is the mill larger than the cages?
The planned mill (a later phase) is drawn at 60,000 tonnes against 5,000 tonnes of cages — twelve times, so feed would sit ahead of the fish. If those desk figures change, the site recomputes the ratio.
What about shrimp and mud crab?
They are future projects, each planned at 5,000 tonnes. Shrimp are planned in recirculating (closed) water, kept apart from the cages; mud crab in a vertical system. Neither is part of the current offering.
How do I reach the company?
Email info@aquafaq.ae, or use the contact form. Messages are stored for Aqua Fisheries Aquaculture LLC and are not published.
Talk to the Dalma desk.
Email info@aquafaq.ae, or send a message. It is stored for the company. It is not published on this site.