BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 8
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
It is planned to export fish products from Azerbaijan to the European countries and Russia in 2021, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Fish Producers and Exporters Association Zaur Salmanli told Trend.
“This year it is necessary to train highly qualified personnel for the fishery industry, as well as to open the Associations or Public Unions of Fishery Enterprises to establish relations between industrial and state structures,” the chairman said.
Salmanli stressed that there is an urgent need for Azerbaijan to register fishery enterprises, which results in the absence of accurate statistical data.
"The main problems in the Azerbaijani fishing industry today are lack of qualified personnel, as well as a number of factors that make it difficult to import special technological equipment, biological materials, and medicines into the country,” the chairman said.
“The creation and operation of aquaculture farms in accordance with the requirements of the Azerbaijani law ‘On fish farming’ may help in solving the abovementioned problems that we faced in 2020,” Salmanli said. “The necessary measures will be taken to resolve this issue soon."
Fish and fish products were mainly imported to Azerbaijan from Russia, Chile, Norway, China, Iran, Georgia, Japan, and Turkey from January through November 2020. Azerbaijan imported fish and other seafood worth $16.4 million during 10 months of 2020.
Currently, Azerbaijan Fish Farm company is implementing several projects aimed at the development of aquaculture, including the fishery industry.
These projects cover various districts of Azerbaijan and envisage breeding of 1,000 tons (portioned and fillet) of rainbow trout, the production of 850 tons of sturgeon fish, and 10 tons of black caviar by the end of 2021.
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