| Characteristics, structure and resources of the sector |
 | Summary |  |
Albania is a country rich in water resources which comprise of natural inland waters, artificial lakes for generating hydroelectricity, a number of rivers (with a snowmelt-pluvial regime with torrential characteristics, ensuring a plentiful source of freshwater), an abundance of reservoirs for agricultural use, coastal lagoons along the western part of the country, a well-developed hydrographical network and the largest lakes in the Balkan Peninsula. Aquaculture is currently a significant activity and has potential for development in the future, interweaving social, economic, biological, ecological and environmental aspects.
During the previous regime freshwater aquaculture received considerable attention and support. It was based on the culture of the most common cyprinid species (e.g. common carp and Chinese carps). A long period of collaboration and exchange of expertise with their Chinese counterparts enabled the Albanian authorities to successfully acquire carp polyculture techniques and train local experts.
After the political changes, the emerging private sector initiatives required new aquaculture species and technologies. Fish farmers looked for better quality species, especially commercial species which could be farmed not only in inland waters, but also in marine waters which had not yet been exploited. Starting from demographic movements that led to an increase in population in coastal areas, the pressure on marine fishing grew. Fish farming is considered to be the most efficient measure to ensure that fish resources are not overexploited, hence this will call for new challenges in environmental protection.
Albania has a population of 3.4 million inhabitants and one of the highest population growth rates in Europe. In countries such as Albania aquaculture can assist in the alleviation of poverty by combining the introduction of new commercial species and technologies with less expensive species. |
| History and general overview | |
The Albanian experience in aquaculture, using mainly semi-intensive practices, began in the early 1960s. Until the 1990s, it involved the production of carp family species, reaching a total of 25 hatcheries which covered a surface of 800 ha. Given the country's abundant water resources, climate, biological potential and socio-political factors, the prospects for developing this important sector for the Albanian economy are good. The economic directives of the earlier political system had encouraged carp culture in all Albanian inland waters as a cheap and easy way of achieving food security. This experience forms a good base to develop fish farming and to establish food preferences for consumers in the highland areas, providing sources of nutrition in areas where there was a scarcity of marine fish and high levels of poverty. In rural areas, this tradition continues through the network of reservoirs which serves rural agriculture and which were built-up during earlier years.
Extensive aquaculture in coastal lagoons has been traditionally developed in Albania. The total surface area of lagoons along the Albanian coast is about 10 000 ha, broken down as follows: Velipoja 180 ha; Merxhan 300 ha; Ceka 800 ha; Patoku 300 ha; Karavasta 3 900 ha; Narta 2 800 ha; Orikum 120 ha; and Butrinti 1 600 ha. With the exception of the Butrinti lagoon, which is situated along the Ionian Sea, the other lagoons are on the coast along the Adriatic Sea. In some of them, the groups of fishermen who are licensed to use the coastal lagoons will, with the encouragement from fishery specialists, build ponds for fattening the juveniles stored during the fishing season in the lagoon, until they reach marketable size. This measure will increase their income as well as protect the juveniles. Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) cultivation was concentrated in Butrinti lagoon in Saranda, where around 80 mussel cultivation facilities were constructed during the 1980s, with an average production of about 2 000 tonnes/year and a maximum of about 5 000 tonnes in 1990. After 1990 production declined sharply in the period of economic and political transition, but lately has shown a positive trend.
The first intensive aquaculture of marine species began in the middle of the 1990s, with growing out of shrimps and cultivation of marine species in floating cages along the Ionian coast. Cold water salmonids, mainly rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and ohrid trout (Salmo letnica), are another important group within intensive aquaculture production in Albania. The results of the first few years of production are very promising and have attracted the interest of Albanian businessmen with a view to extending this activity to other coastal areas.
Artificial lakes comprise a surface of 7 000 ha and artificial reservoirs a surface of 2 700 ha. Ohrid Lake is one of the lakes where aquaculture production is carried out successfully. It is stocked through the Lini hatchery, where artificial reproduction of Salmo letnica has been carried out since 1965, and which currently stocks millions of larvae and fingerlings every year. With the financial support of the World Bank through the Pilot Project of Fishery Development, this centre is being built up as a modern reproduction centre which restocks the ohrid Lake annually with ohrid trout fingerlings and larvae. The seed materials (larvae and fingerlings) are produced under controlled systems, starting from the eggs collected from the maturation broodstock stored in the lake by specialized fishermen. The Fishery Research Institute is responsible for the management and financial support of this hatchery. The Zagorcan hatchery produces 250 000 indigenous carp fingerlings which are also used to restock Ohrid Lake. The fish catch varies from 90 to 150 tonnes per year.
The fish catch in Prespa Lake consists mainly of cyprinids with a high proportion of bleak (Alburnus albidus) and common carp, with an average production of 300 to 500 tonnes per year. The same restocking policy is pursued here as for Ohrid Lake, with government support. Every year this hatchery produces about 600 000 indigenous carp larvae and fingerlings which are used to restock Prespa Lake.
Integrated extensive aquaculture production systems are being considered for artificial lakes and reservoirs because of their multipurpose nature (combining electric power and fishing and/or agriculture and fishing). There are some 600 small reservoirs covering a total surface of 2 700 ha. In addition to their function for irrigation, these reservoirs are used for extensive aquaculture of the Chinese carp family (especially silver carp and big head carp) with production varying from 500 to 800 tonnes per year. |
| Human resources | |
An estimated 2 500 fish farmers are employed in aquaculture. In marine aquaculture and mollusc culture there are 250 fish farmers amongst whom 50 work part-time. Fish farmers employed in inland aquaculture number 2 250; they are involved in trout and shrimp culture, in agricultural reservoirs and in natural and artificial lakes.
Fishery Management Organizations (FMOs) are being promoted in some water body categories, through the Pilot Project of Fishery Development of the World Bank. Such organizations have been established in Ohrid Lake, Prespa Lake, Shkodra Lake and Uleza Lake and their task is to manage fisheries in general (including aquaculture). Other regional inland organizations, such as Elbasani, Shijaku (near Durresi) and Fieri deal specifically with aquaculture management.
Since aquaculture requires high levels of skill and professionalism there is a need for training and education of fish producers. Information, dissemination and educational and training programmes need to be encouraged to ensure the development of aquaculture in the country. |
| Farming systems distribution and characteristics | |
As already mentioned, during the last ten years aquaculture in Albania has been adopting new structures and technology as a way of meeting the demand for fish and creating benefits for the farmers such as new employment opportunities, increasing incomes and widening the spectrum of protein availability as well as providing incomes through exports of high-value fish. However, the production cost of seabass and seabream has been artificially raised because the larvae and fingerlings are imported, mainly from Greece and Italy.
Apart from the coastal lagoons, which are in the western part of Albania, the aquaculture centres are mostly concentrated in the central to southern regions. The favourable climatic characteristics and variability of water sources as well as the relatively higher economic level of inhabitants in this part of Albania make investments in aquaculture possible and attractive. |
| Cultured species | |
The main cultured species produced in Albania are as follows:
These cultured species are important in the areas where they are cultivated. The trout centres are developed in south-east Albania, which is a highland area, hence trout is a good food source for the population and its farming ensures good incomes for the farmers from this area.
Marine culture species are not yet being artificially reproduced in the country, but are imported as fingerlings. Their production is going well in south-west Albania, by the Ionian Sea.
The species of the carp family are extended through central and northern parts of inland Albania, mainly in the poorest areas. Except for common carp, the others have all been introduced from China. In such rural areas, the government is influenced by its policies on poverty reduction, therefore encouraging the production of species which are of low cost and at the same time are important in terms of nutrition. |
| Practices/systems of culture | |
There is a long tradition of carp farming in Albania, based on the rearing of Chinese and common carp. Albania is probably the first East European country to have introduced Chinese carps, first in 1959 and after that in 1969. From then until 1990, by constructing new fish farming centres all over the country with a total surface area of about 800 ha, the production of fingerlings for restocking purposes reached more than 32 million fingerlings of about 8-10 g each, used as stocking material in the grow-out ponds of semi-intensive fish farming systems. Grow-out ponds cover about 200 ha with an average yield of 2-2.5 tonnes/ha, and a maximum of 5 tonnes/ha.
Carp farming is the most widespread aquaculture practice in Albania, and has built up a strong base of experience which can be drawn on to extend this activity in rural areas as semi-intensive fish farming. The biotechnology used in polyculture cultivation of these species was based on the stocking of fingerlings which make possible a rational and efficient use of natural food resources at different water depths. The introduction of artificial feeds contributed to achieving a high rate of fish production. Although this species continues to be popular in northern Albania especially in Shkodra Lake, due to its traditional availability and appeal, from 1990 onwards interest in intensive and semi-intensive indigenous carp and Chinese carp cultivation has been declining, with increasing interest in commercial species; this has changed the structure of aquaculture in Albania.
Earlier there was one rainbow trout farm covering 4.2 ha raceways near Saranda with a yearly production of about 250 tonnes. The fingerlings were produced locally in a hatchery of 1 ha and the pellets were imported from France and Italy. There is also an excellent, abundant source of freshwater, but the trout farm suffered from a poor feed conversion rate, low international market prices and high cost of imported feed, and eventually shut down. From 2003 about 20 new trout fish farms have been built, run mostly by farming families, in Saranda, Tepelena, Pogradec, Librazhd, Diber and other regions. The total production in 2004 was 86 tonnes.
The farming of marine species in Albania is only just being properly developed. There is only one extensive shrimp culture farm at Kavaja with a total surface of 215 ha. It was built 30 years ago and the main production until 1992 were the fingerlings and finfish of Chinese carps. In 1994, under a joint venture with Italian partners named 'KAP' (Kavaja Aquaculture Production), this farm was reconstructed and is now involved in the extensive cultivation of shrimp Peneaus japonicus using a surface area of 120 ha. In the near future it is planned that half of the farm will continue with shrimp culture and the other half will be used to produce species such as seabass and seabream. In 2004 production from this farm was 15 tonnes. Currently the owners of the fish farm of Narta (200 ha) are attempting to put it back in operation by also founding a joint venture with Italian partners; this fish farm has the intrinsic advantage of being near the sea and is therefore attracting foreign investors.
Bivalve culture has been developed since the beginning of the 1960s in the coastal lagoon of Butrinti where fixed structures are being used for the production of Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis). Due to the excellent environmental conditions in this lagoon, about 80 fixed concrete units were constructed here during the 1970s. Since this time production has grown steadily, reaching a maximum of 5 000 tonnes/year by the end of the 1980s. In later years, mussel breeding was practically stopped, for reasons relating to internal organization but also, above all, because of the ban on exports of all live fisheries products imposed for sanitary reasons by the European Union in October 1994. There are some attempts by private groups to put about half of the fixed structures back into operation, mainly for the local market, with the hope that exports to countries of the European Union will be opened up again. Until now about 51 fixed concrete units are in production, with an output of 676 tonnes.
Floating cage farming of marine finfish started in 2002. Recently about ten private entrepreneurs have received licences to begin the cage farming of marine finfish (gilthead seabream and European seabass) in about 16 units and 8 000 m2 marine waters, and the first production was about 20 tonnes. Many suitable locations for this activity have been identified along the littoral zone of the Ionian Sea and, as an added advantage, there are no conflicts with the other users of these areas. The main problem for marine aquaculturists is the lack of fingerlings and locally produced fish feed - importing these two products increases the cost of the fish produced. Until the end of 2004, the number of producers involved in this activity was 7, using 63 cages. For the moment lack of funds seems to be the most important constraint to be overcome in close collaboration with foreign investors and other international donors. | Production | |
Fish production according to the different water categories has changed over the last few years. At the beginning of the 1990s, Albania inherited about 35 aquaculture farms and hatcheries from the previous political regime. After privatization and the economic transition, some of them went out of operation. However, during recent years investments have been carried out to set up new farms with more suitable species for the market and new approaches of aquaculture farming including sea farms with cage culture. The lack of hatcheries for the production of fingerlings of seabass and seabream remains the critical problem for fish farmers.
Although there are now 8 hatcheries producing carp fingerlings, with a total surface of about 40 ha and a yearly production of about 3 million fingerlings, the continuing shortfall in fingerling production leads to a poor stocking rate in the reservoirs and natural and artificial lakes, and this is reflected in a comparatively poor fish catch. Under the Fisheries Research Institute there are four public property aquaculture farms which are involved in the inland waters restocking programme, with governmental support. The Lini hatchery produces about 1 million larvae and fingerlings of autochthon salmon (ohrid trout, Salmo letnica) to restock Ohrid Lake. The Zvezda hatchery produces about 600 000 indigenous carp larvae and fingerlings to restock Prespa Lake. The Zagorcan hatchery produces 250 000 indigenous carp fingerlings, also for restocking Ohrid Lake. Finally, the Tapiza hatchery produces about 500 000 Chinese carp, used to restock large water bodies such as the artificial lakes of Ulza, Fierza and Komani.
The graph below shows total aquaculture production in Albania according to FAO statistics:
Reported aquaculture production in Albania (from 1950)
(FAO Fishery Statistic) |  |   |
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(Source: FAO Fishery Statistics, Aquaculture production) |
| Market and trade | |
Aquaculture is under pressure from the increased demand for fish and fish products. The contribution of aquaculture to food security has become and will remain important in the entire country, but is of particular significance in the eastern part of Albania, where alternative sources of fish are limited.
In the last three years the development of aquaculture has been directed towards those products in high demand. Thus, Albania imports marine aquaculture products from Greece, mainly seabass and seabream, and the demand for these products has led to a need to increase investments in cage culture and trout culture. Marine aquaculture has been developed in the southern part of the country where this activity can be further expanded. The high prices of fish products and the lack of wholesale fish markets which are a necessity in every fishery area, create difficulties for the farmers in trading their aquaculture products. |
| Contribution to the economy | |
Reservoirs for agricultural use are distributed all over the country and can be used for aquaculture which is an important source of income and could contribute to poverty alleviation. In the context of the policies designed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Directorate of Fisheries to reduce poverty, a specific programme for the reactivation of reservoirs for fishing has been started, integrating agriculture with pond aquaculture. The government is playing a crucial role in increasing integrated aquaculture in rural areas, using the aquaculture component of the Pilot Project of Fishery Development of the World Bank. This support is channelled through inland water FMOs (Fishery Management Organizations) and consists of supplying a part of the fingerlings required for their restocking. In another initiative the government, in its license conditions for inland water bodies, has fixed a minimum figure for production of fingerlings per hectare to ensure the implementation of the concept of sustainability and to guarantee the future of permanent supplies. This is a good way of protecting the fishery reserves of inland waters, as well as reducing poverty.
Another special programme is being implemented to restock natural and artificial lakes. Every year, the Fisheries Research Institute receives certain funds for the production and purchase of fingerlings in order to restock the Ohrid, Prespa as well as the Fierza and Uleza lakes. The Institute has four hatcheries for producing fingerlings: Tapiza (Tirana), Lini, Zagorçan (Pogradec) and Zvezda. The hatcheries in Zagorçan and Zvezda produce carp fingerlings in order to restock the Prespa and Ohrid Lakes. Meanwhile, hatcheries in Lini produce ohrid trout (Salmo letnica) fingerlings. In all of these hatcheries, local parents from respective lakes are used in order to preserve biodiversity. For the ohrid trout, spawn is collected from the species harvested from the lake and then kept in an incubator until it reaches the right weight for repopulation. The hatchery in Tapiza is used to keep genetically improved fish of the carp family, such as the common carp, Chinese carp, Ctenopharyngodon idellus and Hypopothalmichthys spp. A certain quantity of fingerlings is purchased from private fishermen in order to restock the large artificial lakes of Fierza and Uleza.
The lack of hatcheries for the production of marine fingerlings obliges Albanian farmers to import them, mainly from Greece. In order to facilitate imports, parallel with the support policies for fingerling production, minimizing the custom tasks of the fingerling imports remains a priority. In trout aquaculture, some farmers have started the production of fingerlings, largely for their own use rather than for sale to others. |
| Promotion and management of the sector |
| The institutional framework | |
In Albania the administration of the fishery and aquaculture sector is centralized and based in article 9 of the Albanian law "On fishery and aquaculture", Regulation No 1 dated 29.03.2005, for application of the legislation on fisheries and aquaculture.
Aquaculture policy is currently included in the Fishery Sector Development Strategy, as part of the Green Strategy, approved by the Government in 1998. The Aquaculture Action Plan (AAP), being part of the Fisheries Management Plan, represents the first step for aquaculture development and will be mainly based on a pragmatic approach elaborated by the Fishery Directorate. |
| The governing regulations | |
The Albanian law N 7908 "On Fishery and Aquaculture" assumes all the principles of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. In Albania there is no separate law for aquaculture, but is included in the law N 7908 "On fishery and aquaculture." This law is the same for both central and local government. Although aquaculture has not been given any special privileges, it is not treated as an agricultural activity. There are no limits on foreign investment in any field of the economy, aquaculture included, so foreign investment can reach up to 100 percent of the original share capital.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food is responsible for developing fisheries and aquaculture policy and receives aid from the Pilot Project of Fishery Development of the World Bank. One of the aims of this project is to support the development of income-earning aquaculture activities by re-establishing low-cost aquaculture in Albania's existing freshwater reservoirs and by exploring the country's potential in the aquaculture of high-value marine species, such as shrimp. This is the project component which will support the government's efforts to re-develop the aquaculture sector in Albania. It aims to restore the original capacity of freshwater aquaculture by supporting FMOs in inland reservoirs, supporting the government's programme to restock trout in Ohrid Lake, and supporting the government's initiatives to explore the potential for farming new and high value species through demonstration programmes.
Aquaculture licences are issued by the licence board, located in the Fishery Directorate, and signed by the Minister. A request for an aquaculture license follows a prescribed procedure, one of the requirements of which is to ensure that the proposed aquaculture activity does not harm the environment. Aquaculture planning is done on the basis of an integrated management of economic and environmental interests with the other sectors concerned. The right to use private land for aquaculture activities is given through special procedures, in conformity with the legislation in force. The right to use waters of the Republic of Albania for aquaculture is determined through the same aquaculture licence. The right to use state controlled lands for aquaculture activities is also permitted by the same licence, taking into consideration the recommendations and consensus of local competent authorities in the proposed area. Use of state-controlled land for aquaculture purposes is classified in the same category with agricultural land according to the legislation in force. Foreign investors can lease the land for 99 years.
The presence of three trans-boundary lakes, Shkodra, Orhrid and Prespa made necessary a law adopted in 2003 "For protecting trans-boundary lakes." This law aims at the environmental protection of trans-border lakes in their natural situation, to guarantee appropriate conditions for maintaining the ecosystems and forbidding activities that would endanger them, and stimulating useful activities while conforming to the principles of sustainable development. In respect of this law technical agreements have been made with Greece and Macedonia for Prespa and Ohrid lakes respectively, especially in relation to banning fishing during a certain period of the year to protect the reproduction of indigenous species. Accordingly, the parties concerned have continued to restock the lake with the advanced fry and fingerlings and adhered to the ban on fishing during the reproduction period.
Some attempts have been made to develop both technical cooperation with Montenegro in a co-management area in Shkodra Lake and experience-sharing between specialists of both countries.
While stocking the natural lakes with millions of fry and fingerlings every year, the Albanian government has taken into consideration the need to preserve genetic diversity. Thus breeders from each lake produce the fingerlings of common carp which are stocked every year in Shkodra, Ohrid, and Prespa Lakes with government support. |
| Applied research, education and training | |
| There are several institutions involved in research activities in aquaculture, all based in Tirana. They are the Fisheries Research Institute in Durres, the Hydrometeorology Institute, the Veterinary Research Institute, the Agriculture University of Tirana and the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT). |
| Trends, issues and development |
Marine aquaculture has shown a large expansion in production in Albania over the past few years. It provides an important source of high quality food and could be considered an important management tool to limit the pressure on wild fish stocks which are heavily stressed due to overfishing and pollution in coastal areas. The degree of interaction between aquaculture and the environment depends on the sensitivity of the ecosystem in which it is implemented, on the culture system, and on the species. As a result of these interactions and of the growing public concern over environmental problems, the choice of sites for aquaculture operations is becoming more important. However, in Albania, the impact of aquaculture on social conditions has not been studied sufficiently.
In the last three years the Fishery Directorate, in collaboration with the Pilot Project of Fishery Development of the World Bank and with rural fishery communities through Fishery Management Organizations or FMOs, has made headway in restocking inland waters for the purpose of increasing fish production in rural areas and consequently improving the social conditions of rural people. In many of these areas, especially the artificial reservoirs, fish production had been stopped during the 1990s. During those years most of the rural coastal communities relied heavily on either agriculture or traditional fisheries. The new economic concepts introduced in fishing communities made new aquaculture activities possible with the introduction of new technologies, or new species using methods such as cage culture in the Ionian Sea coast or developing some aquaculture sites into centres for the cultivation of commercial species.
One of the priorities of the Fishery Directorate for the future is the preparation and promulgation of an Aquaculture Law. This will be necessary because Albania has a vast potential for aquaculture development, given its many water resources, together with aquaculturists with the requisite experience and expertise. Regional collaboration will give coherence to future developments in this field. Given the social and economic importance of this activity, the preparation of legislation act together with a strategic plan for aquaculture, based on the realities in the country, is a major goal of the Albanian government. The main challenge faced by the government is to ensure that aquaculture follows the principles of sustainable development, as in the case of other forms of fishing. It will be necessary to harmonize public and private investments so as to overcome the present difficulties, especially in feed production, as well as in producing fish for consumption at a low cost. In parallel with this it is also necessary to resolve the problems relating to fish trading and marketing to increase the farmers' incomes from this activity. Another priority should be the sharing and exchange of experience and expansion of new technologies along with providing the aquaculturists with scientific information and training.
Competition for space is one of the most critical factors of the relationship between aquaculture and other activities. Land-based aquaculture systems interact naturally with all other developed activities on the seashore and especially with developments related to urbanization, industrial development, tourism and agriculture activities. However, competing uses of areas required for sea-based aquaculture such as fishing zones, spawning areas, nurseries, artificial reefs, access to harbours, military zones, land reclamation, protected or reserved zones, dredging and entertainment and leisure activities such as bathing, sailing or sports fishing may be arranged and resolved through regulations which delimit the possibilities for site selection. The integrated development of coastal areas is now the necessity, while ensuring that negative and irreversible consequences are avoided.
So far, conflicts between aquaculture and fisheries, either on-site competition in the coastal area, or in fish marketing and trade, have not been observed, perhaps because marine aquaculture is a new activity and is concentrated in limited areas, particularly along the southern coast in Vlora and Saranda. The development of freshwater aquaculture is in harmony and coordinated with traditional fisheries, particularly due to the fact that the fingerlings produced are those used for restocking these waters. The fingerlings consist of carp family species that feed on grass and plankton (for lakes and reservoirs) and indigenous trout for Ohrid Lake . The greatest problem for aquaculture is connected with the imports of fingerlings of seabass and seabream, mainly from Greece and Italy, which results in artificially high prices of cultivated fish. Given this situation it should be emphasized that there is a need to study the economic and social impact of aquaculture in Albania, including its effects on poverty reduction and provision of high quality nutrition, because there is a great potential for further development. |
| Bibliography | |
Data sources from: • Fishery Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture & Food. • Statistical Directory of the Ministry of Agriculture & Food. | Related links | |
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