LAUSR

Abstract Saudi Arabia aims to enhance the productivity of fish production and culture of consumption of fish products and increase the export of fish products through implementing the National Transformation Program. This study aimed to identify the current status of marine fish production and most critical climatic and environmental factors affecting the production of natural fisheries and estimate the maximum sustainable yield in Saudi Arabia by focusing on the primary fisheries in the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea during the period 2000–2019. We found that the most important economic, climatic, and environmental factors affecting marine fish production in Saudi Arabia were the number of industrial fishing boats, number of fishers, and wind speed. There was a significant positive relationship between the quantity of fish production in Saudi’s fisheries and the number of industrial fishing boats and fisher numbers. In contrast, there was an inverse relationship between wind speed and fish production in these fisheries. The total output elasticity was 0.10, which is less than 1, indicating that fish production in these fisheries is in the second production stage, which is called the economic production stage. In contrast, there is an opportunity to increase the production variables with diminishing returns. Schaefer’s model analysis confirmed the ability to increase production in most of the study period in both the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea with fishing production not exceeding the maximum sustainable level.