site.btaSome 70% of Romanian Fish Farms May Go Bankrupt by 2024 - Expert

Almost 70% of fish farms could go bankrupt by 2024 at the latest, Alexandru Bonea, Vice President of the Romanian fish sector employers association (Patronatul Pestelui din Romania), said as quoted by Agerpres on Monday. Bonea explained that since most fish farms had accessed EU funds under the 2014-2020 programming period, the Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Operational Programme has decided to ask them to return 40% of the invested funds.

Bonea said: "There are 88 affected companies that have done 120 projects. So far, protocols have been drawn up for EUR 38 million, but we think the value will reach EUR 42 million. In practice, we are talking about 40% of the EUR 110 million that have been allocated. Not only have the EU funds not had the expected effect, but they have generated a total collapse in the sector".

Bonea said that aquaculture faced the same problem in accessing grants in the 2007-2013 financial period and criticizes the fact that funding intended for fish farming is also available to municipalities. He added: "Each time, some EUR 110 million is used to invest in aquaculture, with the rest going to fishing communities, NGOs or research. NGOs and administrative-territorial units use money from [the funds] for fishing and aquaculture to develop local communities, and so, the amount is drastically reduced, almost halved".