Aquaculture in Croatia

As a rule, Croatia is presented as a land of amazingly beautiful beaches, clean seas, and excellent fish cuisine, but it is famous for more than just that. Croatia has considerable water resources, the main of which is the vast coast of the Adriatic Sea, a huge number of small islands and lagoons, which create all the conditions for a wide variety of types of aquaculture - sea, saltwater, and the presence of rivers and lakes - freshwater. Why is aquaculture interesting in Croatia?

Content

• Importance of aquaculture in Croatia
• Cage fish farming in Croatia
• Aquaculture and mariculture in Croatia in numbers
• What and how much is grown in Croatian mariculture
• Freshwater aquaculture
• Promising aquaculture facilities in Croatia

 

The importance of aquaculture in Croatia

Croatia is one of the four EU countries that produces the most fish. In front of it are Greece, Spain and Italy.

There is a surplus in the segment of fishing, fish farming and production of fish products. In 2021, fish worth 132 million euros were imported, and exported for almost twice as much. This is one of the best segments of the Croatian agriculture and food industry. Aquaculture in Croatia makes a significant contribution to the development and survival of vulnerable island and rural communities, as it provides employment all year round and at the same time shows a constant growth trend.
Realizing the importance of aquaculture for the economy, Croatia maintained state support measures for several years after joining the EU.
Currently, in order to ensure sustainable development, various support models are provided for the fisheries sector, both through national funds and through EU funds. Financing of activities and implementation of set goals is carried out through specially created funds for certain periods of time.
The National Aquaculture Development Plan for the period 2021-2027 has been developed.
The objectives of this plan are to improve aquaculture productivity, its resilience to climate change, increase the sector's competitiveness, promote rural development and encourage innovation in aquaculture.
Croatia currently consumes about twenty kilograms of fish per capita per year. Of this, 2.5 kg is fish from sea farms, and 18 kg is caught at sea. However, depletion of fish stocks in the sea and increasing restrictions on their catch are forcing Croatia to develop aquaculture as an alternative source of food.
It is planned to allocate 666.5 million kunas for the implementation of the program.
It is expected that by 2027, quantitative production in aquaculture will reach a minimum of 28.3 thousand tons with an increase in the number of processed products (to a minimum of 6,480 tons compared to 4.8 thousand tons in 2020), and thereby added value in the processing of products aquaculture will increase by 35 percent.
Employment in both primary production and processing should grow by 15 percent. According to the latest data, these two industries currently employ about 3,400 workers.
To solve transboundary problems in the Adriatic Sea, Croatia actively cooperates with Italy. In addition to fish farmers in Croatia and Italy, the AdriAquaNet project involves about one hundred researchers in four research centers and three universities.

The AdriAquaNet project - Strengthening innovation and sustainability in Adriatic Sea aquaculture is a project within the Italy - Croatia Interreg program that falls under priority 1 "Innovation in the Blue Economy - strengthening the operational base for innovation in the relevant sectors of the Blue Economy in the cooperation area."

The leading fish producer in Croatia is Cromaris, large companies Postira Brač, Pelagos Ante Gotovine and others.

 

Cage fish farming in Croatia

Cage fish farming in Croatia is a relatively new direction, which began to develop in the late 80s. At the end of the 90s, cage fish farming began to develop more actively, all equipment was imported. Currently, in Croatia, one of the leading manufacturers of equipment for fish farming on the Adriatic and rivers is located in the city of Moslavin - Montažer Smola, which produces a large range of equipment for mariculture, which is also exported to Hungary, Norway, Scotland, Algeria, Tunisia.
Fish farming in sea cages is well developed; fish farmers use sea cages up to 50 m in diameter.
Growing fish in cages is very profitable and effective, but has a number of consequences. From time to time, in areas where cage fish farms are located, friction arises with local fishermen, who are prohibited from fishing near the cages. Given that the cages are located in the Adriatic Sea close to the coast, coastal fisheries are suffering, in places where fishermen have fished for generations.
Tensions often arise between local residents and fish farmers due to water pollution that occurs due to the functioning of the cages. As one of the ways to solve the problem of sea pollution in the area of cages, scientists propose switching to integrated systems for growing aquatic organisms.
There are especially many cage farms in Zadar County, where the Zadar Archipelago is located, in which there are about 300 islands, and all the places suitable for sea farms are already occupied. The cages are located mainly among islands, and not in the open sea, which causes many conflicts.
Following a 2003 study on the use of the sea and the underwater world in the Zadar area, four zones suitable for certain types of mariculture were identified for the cultivation of certain aquatic organisms - one zone is intended only for the cultivation of white fish and tuna, another zone for the cultivation of shellfish . The zones were included in the spatial plan, after which site permits, construction documents and, finally, concessions could be obtained.
All fish farmers, as well as concessionaires, after anchoring the cages, pay a concession, which is divided into three parts: the state, the county and the city or municipality.
A concession is a right by which a marine asset is partially or completely removed from public use and transferred for use to economic entities.

When growing fish in Croatia, there are many problems, among which rising prices for feed and difficulties with the availability of raw materials for feed are important. Currently, feed based on fishmeal is used, but the sources are limited, and the production of “trash” fish for its production is also reaching its limit. For this reason, scientists are testing new fish food formulations containing plant or animal proteins derived from poultry by-products, or proteins derived from defatted black soldier fly larvae.

Aquaculture and mariculture in Croatia in numbers

What and how much is grown in Croatian mariculture

Mariculture plays a major role in the production of fish and seafood in Croatia.
In the Republic of Croatia, mariculture includes the cultivation of white fish (sea bass, dorado, flounder and others), blue fish (tuna) and shellfish. The most important fish species in mariculture are sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), dorado (Sparus aurata) and Atlantic bluefin tuna (Tunnus Thynnus), as well as mussels (Mytilus galopprovincialis) and oysters (Ostrea edulis).
Total production in mariculture in 2022 will be 23,039 tons.

Table 1. Mariculture production in the Republic of Croatia (in tons) for the period 2018-2022

Type	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Lavrak	6220	6089	6754	9083	10034
Dorado	5591	6774	7780	7599	7462
Silver croaker	н/д	н/д	н/д	999	1086
Tuna	3227	2747	3323	5104	3270
Mussel	882	947	503	854	1020
Oyster	54	61	14	56	93
Other types	808	725	618	81	74
Total	16782	17343	18992	23776	23039

Freshwater aquaculture

The cultivation of freshwater fish species is carried out in the Republic of Croatia of two types of fish: the cultivation of warm-water (cyprinid fish, carp) and cold-water (salmon, trout) species. The most important species in freshwater fish farming are carp (Cyprinus carpio) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).
Total freshwater fish production in 2022 will be 4,226 tons.

Table 2. Freshwater aquaculture production in the Republic of Croatia (in tons) for the period 2018-2022:

Type	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Carp	1959	2037	1691	2828	2447
grass carp	141	122	133	282	229
Silver carp	36	141	161	212	367
Bighead carp	301	344	326	414	522
Som	23	20	32	32	61
Paddlefish	7	7	6	5	6
Pike	7	9	2	4	3
Rainbow trout	336	364,5	379	328	533
Brook trout	34	7,5	12,4	17	14
Other types*	55	48	37	22	44
Total	2899	3100	2779,4	4144	4226

*tench, bream, trout perch, African catfish, Siberian sturgeon and others.

Promising aquaculture facilities in Croatia

Fish farmers are working to introduce new species of fish and other aquatic organisms:
Among the promising hydrobionts for cultivation, the scallop is considered, which is cultivated in neighboring Italy and there are opportunities for its cultivation in Croatia.
European hake (Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758)) is considered as a promising species for cultivation in Croatia. But for now, work is underway to develop the technology.
The dentex (Dentex dentex) is a valuable and rare fish whose population has been greatly reduced. Since 2002, it has been grown in small quantities in Greece, Italy, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatia has also started growing it in marine farms.
Mullet, which can be grown using pasture-based fish farming in lagoons.
The beginning of fishing for the alien blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), which found its way to the Adriatic, is considered promising.