With EU and FAO support the Government of Georgia has adopted Black Sea commercial fishing quotas for 2020-2021. The list of fish species includes the European Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and its quota of fishing amounts to 109,000 tones, which is a solid increase in recent years. 

The adoption of the Black Sea quotes was supported by the the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under the EU-supported European Neighborhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD III), in cooperation with General Fisheries Commission for Mediterranean (GFCM) by providing technical assistance to the National Environmental Agency (NEA) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia. 

The in-depth survey conducted by FAO allowed NEA with the first ever quota-setting in compliance with the EU standards and GFCM requirements for Georgia. 

“Ensuring sustainable long-term fishing yields by setting appropriate catch limits and quotas is an essential element of responsible fisheries management. The EU is very happy to have been able to assist Georgia in reaching this milestone and want to congratulate the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture for this remarkable achievement. We also want here to recognise FAO’s expert support to the sector and continuous valuable partnership under the ENPARD Programme”, said Georges Dehoux, Programme Manager for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Safety at the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia.

“FAO and the European Union support the fishery sector in Georgia with the best expertise that we bring to Georgian people. We do our best to boost marine fishing in the country and we hope that quota setting will benefit the sector, allowing for a sustainable development of the sector while preserving the environment and its resources at the same time“, said Javier Sanz Alvarez, FAO-EU project coordinator. 

The comprehensive stock assessment will support the development of sustainable fishing, growth of the economy and employment of the local population. It is also worth noting that the defined fishery resources will ensure the full work-load of fish processing companies. 

The European Union supports rural development in Georgia through its ENPARD Programme. With the goal of reducing rural poverty, ENPARD has been funded with a total budget of 179.5 million euros since operations began in 2013.