ZAGREB, June 10, 2019 – Croatia has great potential in freshwater fish farming, but it does not make sufficient use of it, as evidenced by low fish consumption, it was heard during a recent parliamentary discussion on the final bill on freshwater fish farming.
Out of eight kilos of fish consumed per capita in Croatia annually, a mere one kilo is freshwater fish, Alen Prelec of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said during the parliamentary debate.
For the sake of comparison, 55 kilos of fish is consumed annually per capita in Portugal, he added.
He also noted that data on domesticated carp for the 2015-2016 period showed that the area of freshwater farms had increased. However, there were fewer and fewer domesticated fish. He wondered whether this might be evidence of the purchase of carp on the grey market.
Anđelko Stričak of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said that until 1991 Croatia produced 15,000 tonnes of farmed fish annually, whereas currently the annual production of farmed freshwater fish is 4,000 tonnes.
He said that there are a number of reasons for this situation, including complications in registration of ownership, freshwater farms and agricultural land, revenue declines, and higher prices of raw material.
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