He noted that in recent years there has been a trend of increasing fish production in natural water reservoirs. Uzbekistan caught 1,937 tonnes of fish in 2004, 5,789.9 tonnes in 2011 and 6,297.8 tonnes in nine months of 2012.
Uzbekistan has significant number of water resources, where fishing can be developed. Uzbekistan has almost 500 lakes. These are small lakes with area of 100 hectares. There are also 32 lakes with area of 1,000 hectares.
After degradation of Aral Sea, fishing is developed in water reservoirs, which are also used in irrigation. Currently, fish caught in seven water reservoirs of Karakalpakstan and seven regions – Bukhara, Navoi, Jizzakh, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya, Samarkand and Khorezm regions.