Fish farms should produce more

  • 2013-09-12
  • From wire reports

TALLINN - The production of Estonian fish and crayfish farms should be ten times bigger than it is now, and local aquaculture farms could reach a 50 percent market share at the local market, the Estonian aquaculture development strategy for 2014-2020, presented on Sept. 11, states, reports Postimees Online.

“With the support of the European Fisheries Foundation, quite a big capacity has been created in Estonia in recent years for aquaculture. The maximum production volume of financed projects is 4,300 tons of aquaculture products a year,” Agriculture Minister Helir-Valdor Seeder said. “Currently, Estonian aquaculture farms sell nearly 400 tons of farmed fish and crayfish a year. Thus the production of our fish farms could be ten times bigger than it is now,” said Seeder.

The strategy points out that the aquaculture sector faces the challenge of guaranteeing a competitive advantage to locally bred fish over imported fish. The strategy proposes a set of measures for the Estonian aquaculture sector to reach 50 percent market share at the local market by 2020 and be able to export its production more. The main chance for the sector is cooperation, via producer organizations, that focus more on product development and marketing and with scientists.