UKRAINE
Resource-rich Ukraine expands fishing, farming, and its links to international markets
Seafood consumption on the increase Ukraine celebrates its 30th anniversary of independence this year. As a young and developing country it is still implementing the reforms designed to build a modern and efficient state. Initial efforts catalysed the signing of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement in 2014, which entered into force in 2017 and which, when fully ratified, offers Ukraine duty-free access to the EU market, political and financial support, and access to EU research and other programmes. In return, Ukraine shall continue more firmly on its path of reform particularly in the legislative and judicial area, economic regulation, and finance.
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ich in natural resources, Ukraine has always had excellent conditions for fishing and aquaculture. The fisheries sector is the third most important source of Ukraine’s animal protein supply after the meat and poultry industries, and it plays a notable role in ensuring food security.
The world’s only producer of krill for human food Ukraine’s commercial fishing is active in four major areas: the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, inland waters, and the high seas. The loss of Crimea in 2014 hurt capture fisheries in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov by cutting harvesters’ access to over 50 of Ukraine’s fish and shellfish resources and contributing to a decline of over 60 in the country’s total fisheries production. Since then, production has slowly recovered though without reaching the volumes of the past: in 2019 total output from capture fisheries reached 82 thousand tonnes, over 20 more than the previous year. Marine fisheries in the Azov-Black Sea basin are dominated by goby, Black Sea and European sprats, European anchovy, and rapa 46
Krill trawler More Sodruzhestva in the Antarctic. It is the only vessel in the world catching krill for human consumption.
whelk, which together make up as much as 90 of the catches in the area. Over the past several years catches in the Sea of Azov have been slowly shrinking for both natural and man-made reasons. The former include the decrease of the density of goby and Black Sea sprat (tyulka) stocks in the area. The latter include the closure of fishing grounds in Kerch strait due to the opening of the
Crimean bridge, which caused a reduction in European anchovy catches. Moreover, the proximity of the Black Sea sprat fishery to the Donbass conflict area has made fishing there too risky for fishers. In 2019 production from the Sea of Azov was 16 thousand tonnes, about 25 less than in 2018. At the same time, the yield of fisheries in the Black Sea have been steadily increasing, mainly
due to the growth of rapa whelk catches that more than doubled from 2018 to 2019, to more than 11 thousand tonnes. Total catches in the area reached 14 thousand tonnes—up more than 60 compared to 2018. Inland fisheries consist of freshwater fish catches in the Dnieper and Danube rivers, the Dnieper Bug estuary, ponds and lakes
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