Resilience and renewal in Romanian aquaculture
This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 3 2025.
Globally, in the last 6 decades, the share of fisheries and aquaculture products (FAP) in the total sources of animal protein for human food has remained relatively constant varying around 33%. What has changed is the share of aquaculture products as animal protein source from 1.4% at the beginning of the 1960s to 17.5% in 2022. Although aquaculture growth rates recorded in Asia have decreased in the last decades they remained high in the first three years of the current decade (3.7%).
The growth rate of EU 27 aquaculture has stagnated over the last 30 years, with aquaculture production in 2022 at the same level as in 2000. In the European Union, of the total consumption of fishery and aquaculture products, only 7.5% comes from EU 27 aquaculture. From this perspective Romania is slightly better off, with fish consumption from Romanian aquaculture at 8%.
According to FAOStat, fishery and aquaculture products consumption in Romania was 7.94 kg per capita per year in 2022, which is below most Central and Eastern EU countries and far below the EU average of around 24 kg per capita per year. Most of this consumption is based on marine capture fisheries (pelagic and demersal species). Unfortunately, the statistics do not reveal the structure of imports by source-whether aquaculture or capture fisheries—making it challenging to analyse competition for aquaculture products aside from the main important species.
From stagnation to opportunity: EU aquaculture in a global context
Although aquaculture in the European Union does not benefit from a consistent and coherent policy like other agricultural activities, it continues to survive and is seeking ways to develop and increase production in order to reduce dependence on imports. Furthermore, overlapping crises in recent years have impacted and continue to affect economic life, particularly in strategic areas such as food security and the continuity of supply chains. Thus, aquaculture remains a central pillar of local and regional economies during times of restraint.
From this perspective, Romanian aquaculture is no exception. While globally, marine aquaculture of aquatic animals represents 37.8%, in the European Union, it constitutes 79% of aquaculture production. In this context, the absence of a marine aquaculture sector in Romania’s Black Sea may seem surprising, especially given the 243 km of coastline. As previously described in a Eurofish Magazine (EM6/2009) issue covering Romania, marine aquaculture was in its pioneering phase and was based on one mussels and oysters farm functioning in a poorly regulated environment. Ultimately, the farm was closed, but the two aquaculture producer organizations began advocating for a proper regulatory system for marine aquaculture in Romania.
Marine aquaculture development in the Black Sea
Private investment for aquaculture development, anywhere in the world, must be supported by pivotal policies such as a predictable, simple, and efficient regulatory framework, public support for R&D, public investments in infrastructure, and market organization. The involvement of aquaculture producers’ organizations in dialogue with the authorities, although lengthy, has contributed to normalizing the regulatory framework for aquaculture. On the other hand, there was intense and fruitful cooperation among professional associations, private aquaculture, and capture fisheries companies with the National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa” (NIMRD) in Constanta, which resulted in identifying science-based solutions to address marine aquaculture in the allocated zones for aquaculture in the Romanian Black Sea, considering the specific challenges of these areas (untimely storms, lack of bays, low salinity, and high temperatures during the summer, etc.).
Following the public tender procedure in 2024, aiming to lease 28 perimeters in the marine environment by the National Administration “Romanian Waters,” ten perimeters were awarded to five companies and a cooperative, three of which are for shellfish and seven for fish farming. The total leased area amounted to 60.06 hectares out of 166 hectares identified and microbiologically classified as suitable for aquaculture. It is worth mentioning that the starting value of lease tariffs was the highest in the EU. One of the solutions targeting investments from public funds is provided by the productive investments in aquaculture component of EMFAF 2021 – 2027, which launched the first call for applications in early April, with a total allocation of €63,829,970. It is expected that at least these companies interested in marine aquaculture development will take advantage of this opportunity, especially in the turbulent economic and social context of the region.
Another component of public investments necessary to support marine aquaculture development is the onshore infrastructure, which is mandatory for every offshore economic operation. For the moment, this problem has not yet been resolved and will likely generate additional costs, as competition with other more financially robust economic activities will be tougher.
Trout farming surges ahead
Freshwater aquaculture, which is characteristic of Romania and utilizes more than 20 species of fish, is experiencing a visible trend over the last ten years: the rapid growth of trout production, which reached a sold quantity of 3,527 tonnes in 2022, representing a 228.7% increase compared to 2015. During the same period, imports of trout decreased by only 5% in quantity. These figures indicate a strong rise in consumption for this group of species. Farmers have adapted to local conditions, developing traditional raceway systems, RAS farms, and, especially, cages on hydropower dam lakes, all of which have contributed to increased production. Trout farming dominates the EU freshwater aquaculture sector as it focuses on monoculture intensive production methods, using well-known and easily manageable technology with a relatively short production cycle (around 18 months) since the market size is 300-500 grams per individual, which is highly dependent on the commercial feeds market. Relatively low net profit rates compel investors to seek large production units, thus providing financial space for further investment. As a new market opportunity arises for rainbow trout grown in sea cages to a size of around 3 kg per individual, some companies involved in freshwater trout production are exploring diversification by developing marine cage systems in the Black Sea. This will allow them to challenge the salmon market, which appears to be more promising in terms of revenue through value -added processing.
Adding value at home: processing, PGI recognition, and local sales
Another option that Romanian aquaculture farmers are exploring to maintain their economic viability is diversifying their production activity towards options that increase the added value of their output. The Multiannual National Strategic Plan for Aquaculture, revised in 2023, continues to stress the importance of retaining a significant share of the value chain revenues for the benefit of the farmers, leading to the adoption of various strategies. One of these aims to add value through processing facilities, primarily targeting regional markets. In addition to the EU Registered and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG) registers, which contain only two Romanian aquaculture products (a smoked bighead carp and a carp roe salad), farmers are pursuing a simpler recognition scheme implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under the National Register of “Certified Traditional Products.” This register includes 789 products, of which 25 are fish-based, most originating from aquaculture. Additionally, medium-scale processing units have been developed using European Maritime and Fisheries Funds from 2014 to 2020, in an effort to diversify the range of products delivered to local and regional markets while attracting new categories of consumers to farmed products. This activity is further supported by an increasingly wide array of local fairs, exhibitions, and events that promote traditional agricultural products, in which farmed fish has its rightful place.
Strengthening consumer trust through tourism, education, and direct sales
As aquaculture is largely dominated by SMEs that have difficult access to large retail chain outlets, more farmers are developing alternatives to solve the final part of their production cycle: sales. One solution, also supported by the EMFAF 2021 – 2027, is the development of farmers ‘ own fish shops, which are very popular in Romania. These shops allow direct contact with the consumer, facilitate the dissemination of information about the production methods of a certain farm, create a direct bond between the farmer and the end user, and support the shortest supply chain, ensuring the genuine freshness of the products. This is considered one way to increase consumer trust in farmed products and regain social acceptability for aquaculture. Following the same approach to enhance visibility and confidence in aquaculture, farmers have begun to develop aqua-tourism, scientific tourism, and fish restaurants at the farm level, diversifying not only their income sources but also adding value to their production and harnessing the potential of ecosystem services associated with fish farming, especially in traditional earthen ponds. This open approach to the public, especially families, and educational institutions from primary schools to academia ensures transparency while creating new generations of well-informed consumers and potential young practitioners of a centuries-old profession.
Romanian aquaculture still has immense growth potential, and realizing this potential depends solely on political decisions at both national and EU levels, such as direct support, reduced bureaucracy, and fair access to space and water for sustainable farming to stimulate investment, as well as the re-professionalization of this activity through the horizontal development of vocational education, training, and applied research. There remains hope that a Common Policy for Aquaculture, offering the same financial instruments as those for the rest of agriculture, would significantly improve aquaculture’s attractiveness as a business and mark a starting point for sustainable production growth, which is an important aspect of increased resilience and of the overarching goal of food security.
