Countries

The Fish Culture Research and Development Station Nucet was founded in 1941 to contribute to the development of freshwater aquaculture in Romania. The institute has been responsible for the creation of strains of common carp and for the development of rearing technologies for most of the freshwater species that grow in Romania. It has also played a major role in the introduction and acclimatization of new species such as Chinese carps in the 70s as well as pike-perch, pike, and paddlefish.

Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund supports the local development of fisheries communities. Private and public members of a fisheries community join together in a Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) to prepare and implement a local development strategy for the area. The FLAG typically comprises representatives from private industry, local government, NGOs, and civil society. These partnerships help fishing communities in three main ways: by linking them into networks and increasing their influence; by safeguarding jobs and raising incomes; and by creating new job opportunities through the acquisition of new skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

The aquaculture industry in Romania is dominated by the farming of cyprinids in earthen ponds and reservoirs. Around the turn of the century the cultivation of rainbow trout started and production has grown steadily since then. Trout is now perhaps the single most important species farmed in Romania.

The carp farming industry in Romania has been going through a minor revolution. As feeds, technology, and management have improved, and ponds have become smaller, yields have risen from one tonne per hectare two decades ago to three tonnes per ha today.

In a sector crowded with farming and processing companies Akuvatur stands out for its approach, which differs in several respects from other producers. Owned by an academic, Dr Haluk Tuncer, Akuvatur has concentrated on species other than seabass and seabream. In addition, the company grows fish to sizes that are usually larger than the typical market-sized fish.

Kiliç Seafood is Turkey’s biggest producer of farmed fish, cultivating seabream, seabass, meagre, and trout with a total annual production capacity of approximately 40,000 tonnes. The company is fully integrated with hatcheries, feed production, processing, sales, marketing and distribution. Its products are exported to 44 countries around the world making it Turkey’s leading exporter in this sector.

Kopuzmar was established in 1991, but operations actually started five years earlier when the company put 600 gilthead seabream juveniles in cages in the sea. Since then the company has grown significantly, producing juveniles and fish feed, farming seabream and seabass, and processing fish in to value added products.

More Aquaculture is a producer and exporter of seabass, seabream, meagre and trout. The company has its own production of seabass and seabream and a network of suppliers that provide the company with the trout that it requires to meet its commitments. More has been in the aquaculture business for the last 13 years and is owned by the AKG Group, a conglomerate with interests in building materials and tourism apart from fish.

While Turkey is now well known for its seabass and seabream farming operations, production from which exceeds even that of Greece, the country also has a huge trout industry. Annual volumes of trout dwarf those of seabass and seabream and amount to almost three fifths of total EU trout production.

Camli is part of the Yasar Group, a holding company with interests in a variety of industries including food and beverages, agriculture, paints, and paper. Within the group Camli is responsible for agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and feed. The company farms seabass, seabream and small quantities of meagre, which are mainly exported to markets in the EU.