Ukraine’s fishing business maintains stable growth

From January to October 2013, fishing businesses increased production of fish and other seafood products by 7.4% year-on-year, to 165,800 tons. The total harvest in the 10 months amounted to 156,600 tons, which is up 7.4% year-on-year, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs

The largest share of fish and seafood was produced in marine economic zones of other countries - 52% of the total. The maritime economic zone of Ukraine has produced 50,500 tons of fish and seafood, accounting for 43% of the total.

The leader of the capture of fish in inland waters is the Odessa region with the total harvest of 2,800 tons in the first ten months of 2013. The growth leader is the Mykolaiv region, which this year has increased the capture in inland waters by over 8 times, to 1,200 tons.

Analysts say growth of the domestic fishing industry is associated with the implementation of the state program for development of the fishing industry, which is radically reformed and modernized. Along with agriculture, cattle farming and forestry, fishing industry is an important part of the agricultural sector of Ukraine. Experts explain that in Soviet times, fish farming in Ukraine was the most developed compared to other Soviet republics. Then there was a powerful industrial base which used effective technologies to breed new species of fish. Now the fish farming resource of Ukraine is 1.3 million hectares of inland water bodies, which is only used by 20-30%.