The Polish fish processing sector seems highly resistant to the COVID pandemic

This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 6 2021

The 7th edition of the Polish Fish Congress took place on 29 and 30 September 2021. The event is the largest annual meeting of the fish industry in Poland. This year it was attended by 247 delegates and 23 speakers.

Adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change

This article was features in Eurofish Magazine 6 2021

Compared to 2019, production in the Turkish aquaculture sector increased 13% to 421 thousand tonnes in 2020 according to the
Turkish Statistical Institute.

Inland water aquaculture is overwhelmingly dominated by the cultivation of salmonids, mainly rainbow trout, which account for 30% of total (both marine and inland) farmed fish production. Marine aquaculture is represented primarily by seabass (35%) and seabream (26%). In 2020, there was a huge increase (90%) in the production of a sea-raised rainbow trout to over 18,000 tonnes. Taken together, these three species (rainbow trout, seabass, seabream) accounted for 96% of Turkish farmed fish production (freshwater and marine) in 2020, a picture that has not really changed since the 80s when production from fish farming first made it into government statistics.

Self-consumption fishers to follow suit from 2023

This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 5 2021

Some new amendments to Latvia’s Fisheries Law entered into force in July 2020. They delegated the issuing of coastal and inland waters fishing licenses to local government authorities. This institutionalised the “one-stop shop” principle, where the documents a fisher needs (including lease agreements for fishing rights and its annual lease protocol indicating fishing limits, as well as the fishing license) can all be obtained from the local government authority rather than from multiple bodies as was the case before.

Since 2020 new fishing licences issued in Albania do not add to capacity

This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 5 2021

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Albanian fishing fleet consists of 720 vessels, based in the four main ports, Durresi, Vlora, Saranda, and Shengjini. About 3% of the fleet is scattered along several landing points on the Albanian coastline. The main species targeted by the fleet are deep-water rose shrimp, European hake, European pilchard, surmullets and European anchovy according to MARD and INSTAT.

Updating electronic systems to combat IUU

This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 5 2021.

Legislation related to fisheries and aquaculture in Romania is going through a significant change with the existing fisheries law being split into separate laws for fisheries and aquaculture. Farming of fish and seafood in the Black Sea is now receiving official attention and new regulations governing fishing are leading to initiatives that aim to better monitor fisheries. Steering all this and more is Gheorghe Stefan, State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, whose years of experience in the fisheries administration as well as the private sector should stand him in good stead in his current role.

Adverse impact is tempered by positive developments

The most important EU fleet in the Mediterranean has been declining in size for some years. Effort in terms of days at sea has been reduced and catch volumes and values have declined since 2004 with a slight uptick in 2013. The corona pandemic showed the resilience and innovative spirit of the industry as fishers found alternate ways of doing business as the traditional supply chain broke down.

With almost 12,000 vessels (2019) the Italian fleet is still among the largest in the Mediterranean although the number of boats, gross tonnage, and power have declined by 19%, 27% and 23% respectively since 2004. Of the total number of vessels, the small-scale fishing fleet (SSCF), vessels less than 12 m, accounted for just over two thirds while vessels operating with towed gears, demersal trawlers and beam trawlers, constituted 17%. Other fleet segments include dredgers (6%), purse seiners (8%), long liners (2%), passive polyvalent gears (3%) and pelagic trawlers (1%). In terms of gross tonnage the trawling vessels account for almost 60% of the total making it the largest fleet segment by this measure. Purse seiners, vessels that also target bluefin tuna, account for 8% of national tonnage, while other segments contribute 2% to 5% of national tonnage. Italy also has a distant water fleet comprising 9 vessels—8 bottom trawlers and 1 purse seiner.

Carp production in semi-intensive conditions can very significantly

This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 4 2021.

Cereal grains, pelleted, and extruded feed in semi-intensive common carp production have different impacts on production, meat quality, the pond ecosystem, and profitability.

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) is one of the most important species of farmed fish. It is farmed in more than a hundred countries of the world, mainly in earthen ponds. Most of the production is in semi-intensive culture systems. Such production is based on boosted natural food produced in the pond with supplemental feed. Although simple at first appearance, this farming method has a whole range of options: from traditional farming methods based on feeding with cereal grains and other locally available plants to production based on the use of high quality compound feeds. In Europe semi-intensive production based on feeding with cereal grains is still dominant. Although in some countries, such as Serbia, cereals have been largely replaced by compound (extruded) feeds.

New study confirms that Croatians are fairly avid eaters of fish and seafood

This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 4 2021.

The Directorate of Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture conducted an analysis of the consumption of fishery and aquaculture products in the Croatia for the years 2018 and 2019. The aim of the study was to determine the net supply (availability) and per capita (apparent) consumption of fishery and aquaculture products.

Recognising women’s essential, but often unacknowledged, roles in Spanish fishing and aquaculture

This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 3 2021.

Fishing is more than taking fish from the ocean or from inland lakes and streams. The simplistic image of men labouring on the sea in the face of nature’s harsh challenges does not portray the complexities of today’s fishing sector. Before and after fish are taken, a large amount of work must be done, on board and ashore, by both men and women.

As Vice-Minister responsible for fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Dudutis has plenty on his plate. The impact of the pandemic on the sector, the new operational programme for 2021–2027, the ban on cod fishing, and declining quotas for some pelagic species are just a few of the issues he must contend with. If that were not enough, he also needs to persuade the Lithuanian Parliament of the importance of maintaining the small-scale coastal and inland fishing sector, which is under threat from a proposal that could effectively forbid it.

This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 3 2021.