Salmon farming thrives in Dubai desert

DUBAI - From a control room in the middle of Dubai's desert, the sunrises and sunsets of Norway and the cool currents of the Atlantic are recreated for the benefit of thousands of salmon raised in water tanks despite searing heat outside.

Dubai is no stranger to ambitious projects, with a no-limits approach that has seen a palm-shaped island built off its coast, and a full-scale ski slope created inside a shopping mall.

But the farming of salmon in the desert is "something that no one could have imagined", said Bader bin Mubarak, chief executive of Fish Farm. "This is exactly what we're doing in Dubai."