Serbian fishery industry includes aquaculture production of fish, open water fishing from rivers and lakes, and processing. Aquaculture implies fish production under controlled conditions. Apart from edible fish, fish for stocking open waters and many types of ornamental and aquarium fish are farmed.

Fish consumption

In the developed countries of the world, the fishery is a separate industry. Fish consumption in our country is at a relatively low level, 5-7 kg per capita per year. In the developed world countries (Norway, Japan), consumption exceeds 50 kg per capita per year.

Fish production in our country is relatively low for several reasons:

  • unused locations;
  • lack of population awareness of the importance of introducing fish into daily diet;
  • lack of modern working tools;
  • introduction of modern work technologies, etc.

Ponds

Serbia utilizes only 10% of its fish production capacity. If the ponds worked at full capacity, the country would earn millions of euros a year since the European Union alone lacks more than one and a half million tons of fish annually.

Carp ponds are mainly concentrated in the area of ​​AP Vojvodina and trout ponds in the hilly and mountainous areas of Serbia, primarily in the west and east. Rainbow trout is farmed in trout ponds, and in carp ponds, dominated by carp, there are also other species such as silver and bighead carp, grass carp, and predators catfish, perch, and pike.

Apart from pond fish, river and lake fish is available on our market. Of the approximately 100 species of fish inhabiting the waters of our country, most are autochthonous.

A resident of Serbia eats up to four times less fish per year than an EU resident. The low consumption of fish per capita is perhaps the result of bad custom to prepare fish mostly during fasting only, when its sales increase drastically, while reduced to a minimum in the other periods.

In Serbia, just a decade and a half ago, fish ponds were operating on an area of ​​about 12,000 hectares. Today, fish production has reduced to only 3,500 hectares, as many ponds were shut down in previous years.

Serbia, and mostly Vojvodina, has the potential to make fish ponds on 150,000 hectares of barren land, so there is a need to invest in the fishery industry. This is also indicated by the fact that Serbia’s current annual pond production meets about 30% of our needs. The largest share, up to 70% of the total fish consumption in Serbia, is satisfied by imports.

Fish occupies an important place in the human diet. Fish and fish meat products belong to the same food group as eggs and various types of meat from slaughter animals and products thereof, as they have a lot of similarities in terms of energy, nutritional and biological value.

It is also interesting to note that the population living near the water eats far more fish than those living in the continental part. However, these differences are so great that a good part of the population can be said to be eating fish very rarely or almost never.

Apart from achieving the common interests and needs of its members and raising consumer awareness, the Naša riba cluster’s goal is to promote fishery products’ consumption in our country.