Romanian fish and seafood from the first marine farms set up in the Black Sea
The first marine farms are being prepared in the Black Sea, and the first investors have been awarded an area of 60 hectares in the inland maritime waters and territorial sea, in the framework of public tenders conducted by the Romanian Waters Administration (Apele Romane), said the Minister of Environment, Water and Forests, Mircea Fechet.
"It can work in Romania as well: from next year, we will put fresh, local fish and seafood on the table," the minister said. He referred, in this context, to ten perimeters located in the area between Mamaia and Constanta, in front of Lake Sinoe, perimeters managed by the Dobrogea-Litoral Water Basin Administration.
"Here, in the next 20 years, at a distance of 2-3 km from the shore, both seafood and fish with high economic value, such as salmon trout, sea bream or sea bass, will be cultivated," said the Environment Minister.
Fechet pointed out that it is a first for Romania that, at the first auctions for the water area, the Black Sea has attracted investors in aquaculture farms, being, at the same time, an important step in the development of the "blue economy". According to him, better use of marine resources means "enjoying the potential of our sea at fair costs that we can all afford".
During the recent debates of a gastronomic event called “Made-in-Romania Fish”, it was mentioned that only 0.5 out of the 8 kilograms of fish consumed on average annually by a Romanian come from Romanian aquaculture – mostly freshwater fish (compared to a European average consumption of about 20 kilograms).
Romania annually produces about 12,000 tons of fish from aquaculture, compared to over 100,000 tons in countries such as Spain, Italy and France and about 1,000,000 tons in the European Union as a whole, according to the data provided during the event.