The Common Fisheries Policy is a set of rules for managing European fishing fleets and protecting fish stocks. It manages a common resource, ensuring equal access for European fishing fleets to EU waters and fishing zones and enabling fishermen to compete fairly.
Although fish stocks are renewable, some of them can be depleted. EU countries have therefore taken measures to ensure that the European fishing industry is sustainable and does not threaten the size and reproduction of fish stocks in the long term.
In particular, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the entire supply chain business of the aquaculture and products industry has been adversely affected. In this process, people’s food consumption habits in general have changed. As a result of the restrictions and importance experienced due to the epidemic, consumers had difficulties in reaching the products they wanted, while the suppliers had difficulties in providing the requested products as a result of customs and logistics controls. As a result, while there were unexpected price increases in the seafood and products sector, there was a decrease in the supply of high-quality products such as lobster and oysters.
Restaurants closed with the concept of social distance, cancelled celebrations and mass entertainments have led to domestic demand losses. Many fish markets have closed globally and fresh fish consumption has decreased. The deterioration of the domestic demand balance also had an impact on the export market across the world. However, fresh fish consumption has been replaced by frozen, processed and canned products. The trends in the industry have resulted in the consumption demand of these products with a long shelf life and the final consumer’s directing their shopping from supermarkets or online shopping sites. This led to the increase in the consumption of salmon and trout.
In addition to the Covid-19 pandemic, the demographic and economic conditions of countries are also changing, especially with globalization. Countries are developing and implementing various policies in order to increase environmental awareness and raise awareness of people on issues of serious importance such as the decrease in natural resources, increase in CO2 emissions, increase in air and sea pollution. When the recent developments are examined, issues such as the development of new business models, adaptation towards digitalization, increasing environmental awareness, food safety and healthy nutrition have become trends in the aquaculture and products sector.
Anyway, fishing within the territorial waters in all five considered countries is an important activity with exports along associated activities such as fish processing activity.
For example, fish and seafood production in Bulgaria stem primarily from capture fisheries in the Black Sea, and freshwater and marine aquaculture. Freshwater catches, which come mainly from the Danube, are nugatory. Black Sea catches have remained stable over the last years, while production from fish farms, of carps and trout in particular, has grown steadily.
The total production of fish comes from two main sources – commercial fishing and aquaculture. Commercial fishing is divided into two groups – marine fishing in the Black Sea and freshwater fishing in the Danube and other inland waters (medium and large dams).
Commercial fishing in the Black Sea and the Danube is with fishing gear from land, and from vessels.
Bulgaria has developed two sub-sectors of aquaculture: freshwater fish farming (in warm or cold water) and marine aquaculture farming. The observed trend towards an increase in the number of registered freshwater aquaculture farms over the years leads to reaching 84% in 2018 of the total aquaculture production in Bulgaria and 16% for Black Sea aquaculture.
Marine aquaculture production facilities are mainly for the production of black clam.
In Georgia there are the following three medium-term priorities regarding fishing:
- Improving and enhancing monitoring and control of fishing activities and of trade in fisheries products and their traceability, in order to effectively fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU fishing);
- Taking necessary steps to achieve sustainable fisheries in the Black Sea, both in bilateral and multilateral frameworks on the basis of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management;
- Increasing scientific and technical co-operation with a view to ensure the capacity of monitoring fisheries based on sound and reliable data, and of evaluating the state of marine resources and of the marine environment.
Georgia is actively cooperating with the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) as a ‘Cooperating non-contracting party’. Cooperation concerns both the implementation of the multi-annual strategy and of GFCM management measures.
Moreover, the Government has recently introduced legislation for the regulation of aquaculture in the territorial waters of Georgia. However, a development strategy for aquaculture, which will support the growth of this sector in Georgia is not yet adopted.
In Romania, starting with 2007, non-reimbursable funds have been allocated for the development of aquaculture under the Operational Programme for Fisheries 2007-2013 and the Operational Programme for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs 2014-2020, which supported small and medium-sized enterprises to develop and modernize (there were purchased high-performance equipment, fish production has diversified, etc.) aquaculture farms, and other activities of the aquaculture farms, like: recreational fishing tourism, educational tourism, food service, etc.
Most of the aquaculture units in the South-East region are located in the rural area. Out of the 87 aquaculture units, 71 carry out their activity in fish farms/establishments with public ownership, 11 in fish farms/establishments with private owner and 5 in fish farms/establishments with mixed public-private ownership (the public owner having the land of the facility, and the private owner the assets).
Aquaculture in the South-East Region of Romania is carried out in freshwater and is characterized from a technological point of view by the following directions: extensive and semi-intensive growth of cyprinids in polyculture and intensive growth of salmonids. Breeding cyprinids in polyculture is carried out at most farms/establishments in earthen ponds, in extensive or semi-intensive regime. There are also farms that breed cyprinids in floating ponds,
concrete ponds or thermostated basins with recirculated water systems.
The areas of many fish farms/establishments have the status of NATURA 2000 sites, benefiting for this reason from various financial facilities for the loss of production due to ichthyophagous birds or for the protection of the fauna of the area.
Many of the extensive fish farms/establishments are multifunctional farms where other social and environmental services are provided: ecological tourism, recreational fishing, educational activities related to the knowledge and protection of aquatic biodiversity, improving water management.
In Türkiye, as a result of globalization and unconscious consumption, environmental pollution has increased and the natural resources have begun to decrease. In order to achieve food production and environmental targets, it is necessary to increase the efficiency in the use of natural resources. At the same time, food loss and waste should be reduced and consumers’ awareness should be raised. The spread of environmentally friendly systems and production techniques and the protection of water resources have taken their place on the world agenda and studies have begun on policies related to this. At this point, producers and companies in the aquaculture and products sector should develop their visions in this direction and include
sustainable environmental policies in the marketing and sales strategies of seafood products with healthy nutritional value, and contribute to the activities of raising awareness of the end consumer.
In addition, fresh-salt water fisheries and aquaculture are developed on the basis of the aquaculture and products sector, and fish farming models and the identification of suitable new areas are increased. The application of closed circuit systems for fish farming is becoming widespread.
In aquaculture, the most important factor in increasing production and efficiency is the contents of the feed. In particular, R&D studies are carried out to increase the nutritional quality of fish, which is shown as a substitute product for meat and chicken consumption in animal foods, and to develop feeds when it exceeds a certain weight. In addition, in order to reduce water and environmental pollution, the nitrogen and phosphorus ratio in the feed should be well determined. For this, the use of good agricultural practices such as FSR (feed evaluation) rate, increasing the use of enzymes in feed ingredients, rearrangement of species according to aquaculture costs will greatly contribute to the development of farming.
In short, the development of fisheries-related management and increasing the efficiency of fishery products are the issues on the agenda in the creation of sustainable food systems. The European Development Bank (EIB) has allocated a budget of 24 billion Euros for the development of sustainable environmental policies of the “Blue Economy” in 2020. In the last five years, a budget of 216 million Euros has been used in order to support the sustainable production of the European Union member countries, especially in the aquaculture sector.
As for Ukraine, in 2018, Odessa and Mykolaiv regions accounted for 15 and 22 percent, respectively, of aquatic living resources produced by domestic fishermen. The basis of fishing of marine species of fish was plaice, mullet, trachurus, bluefish, diplodus, goby and others. In some of them, there are facts of overfishing, the influence of adverse anthropogenic factors, violations of fishing rules and, as a result, a reduction in the volume of industrial production. This makes it urgent to initiate sea-culture projects, on the one hand, and to introduce, on the other hand, programs to preserve biological diversity in natural reservoirs of inland, territorial sea waters and exclusive economic zone. The fishing complex of the Odesa oblast consists of the Black Sea seaport, 6 fish processing factories and fish processing plants, 104 fish enterprises of various forms of ownership, 7 fish farms, four of which have the status of tribal ones. Aquaculture opens wide prospects for the development of the fishery complex in the Odesa and Mykolaiv oblasts. Their coastal sea
waters are favourable ecosystems for the cultivation of molluscs (mussels, oysters, rapans), the industrial cultivation of which does not require the cost of artificial feed. From one raft with an area of 16×25 m, to which 600 ten-meter collectors are suspended, more than 4 tons of oyster meat are obtained per year. Since the life of molluscs is related to filtering water, they also purify it. In particular, from pathogenic bacteria. According to scientists’ calculations, one mollusc can purify up to 100 litters of water per day.
In the south of Ukraine, it is promising to cultivate euryhaline species of marine fish that live in conditions of moderate and variable salinity and temperature ranges of this zone. They include: mullet (Flathead grey mullet, So-iuy mullet, Golden grey mullet) – due to artificial reproduction, pasture cultivation in estuaries and lagoons, Pleuronectidae (Platichthys – Black Sea turbot) – possible artificial reproduction, controlled cultivation in pools, recirculation systems, Sturgeon (Russian sturgeon, Starry sturgeon, Bester, Beluga, various sturgeon hybrids) – through artificial reproduction, controlled commercial cultivation in pools, recirculation systems, Gobiidae – reproduction and pasture cultivation using artificial reefs.
During 2020, 33 special commercial fish farms and 56 aquaculture entities worked in Mykolaiv oblast. The implementation of the Aquabator project – an incubator for the start-up of businesses in the field of aquaculture – began here. It provides for the creation of an ecosystem for the development of aquaculture in the south of Ukraine. It is implemented by the Business Support Center, the Mykolaiv City Council, and the Halytsynovo Village Council as part of the sectoral policy support program. The total cost of Aquabator is UAH 8.9 million. Of these, UAH 5.9 million are state budget funds, the rest are financial receipts from partners. It is expected that in the future aqua farms will also turn into attractive tourist attractions. They plan to conduct tours here and treat guests with freshly prepared dishes.
Due to the military aggression launched by Russia and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, in 2022 the industrial catch of aquatic biological resources in internal fisheries water bodies (parts thereof), internal sea waters and the exclusive (marine) economic zone of Ukraine decreased by more than 62 % and amounted to 20.0 thousand tons (in 2021 – 53.4). About 80% of the users of aquatic bioresources stopped their economic activity. In the Black Sea basin, industrial activity by Ukrainian business entities has de facto stopped.
For this reason, insurmountable obstacles arose for scientific research activities in the field of fisheries, fishing in waters outside the jurisdiction of Ukraine suffered significant losses. Although it retains membership and capacity for expeditionary fishing in the area of responsibility of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). As of August 1, 2022,
the losses of the subjects of the fishing industry of Ukraine due to the actions of the Russia state amount to almost 40 million US dollars.
According to the data of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the world population will reach 9.7 billion in the 2050s, and as a result, the demand in the food sector will increase in the coming years and especially the demand for animal foods will double. Therefore, it is expected that the consumption of aquatic products containing a rich source of animal protein will also increase. The United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s estimate of fisheries consumption in 2025 is 22 kg per capita per year. In addition, among the healthy and balanced eating habits of people, seafood is among the indispensables with its rich vitamins, calcium, phosphorus and minerals.
As a result, the demand for aquaculture consumption will increase with the increasing population’s need for quality food consumption and the increase in nutritional awareness.
Among the limiting factors for the development of aquaculture on the Black Sea coast identified in the reports of the studied countries are: the lack of areas well protected from waves, such as estuaries, bays strongly cut into the land, the temperature regime of the Black Sea water on an annual basis. Another important factor that negatively affects the development of marine aquaculture is the strong anthropogenic pollution, expressed in significant
eutrophication. At the same time, favourable conditions exist for the creation of mussel farms along the coast, with the cultivated mussels being characterized by good quality and high yield. Creating a closed cycle of production by building processing plants near the mussel plantations
is particularly promising. Another significant factor with a negative effect on the development of marine aquaculture is strong anthropogenic pollution, which is expressed in significant eutrophication. The creation of water treatment facilities, preventing the ingress of oil products, will enable the
development of aquaculture in more parts of our Black Sea coast. In parallel with the requirements for choosing a place and conditions for Black Sea aquaculture activity, the regulatory requirements of national and European legislation must also be considered. Opportunities arise from emerging Blue Economy subsectors as algae production. Macroalgal production is for example almost entirely a maritime activity, with some on-land farming and
with seed production easiest to do in land-based laboratories.
All Blue Economy sectors are facing difficulties to attract new talent as maritime professions and especially new blue career opportunities, arising from the emerging sectors of the green, circular and bio economy, related to the sea are not well known among the young generation and wider audience.
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*This Project has received funding from the European Union’s European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) under Grant Agreement 101077576.
**Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
