CROATIA
Ribnjacarstvo Koncanica exports most of its carp production
Adding value to carp is something for the future The Croatian coastline is a popular destination for tourists craving sun, sand, and seafood. Local ďŹ sh and seafood consumed in coastal Croatia originates in the Adriatic, but continental Croatia also produces ďŹ sh – farmed and wild freshwater species that are cultivated in ponds or other farming systems or are ďŹ shed from rivers.
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ibnjacarstvo Koncanica, a company based in Koncanica, 130 km east of the Croatian capital, Zagreb, produces common carp in polyculture with other freshwater fish in traditional earthen ponds. The farm comprises altogether 1,300 ha of ponds that used to be owned by the regional administration together with several small shareholders. In 2010 the farm was acquired by the current owners, who embarked on a major process of renovation that is still ongoing. When they took over the property many of the ponds were in very poor shape, completely overgrown, with damaged walls, poor drainage, and with little or no yield. Today, however, more than 1,000 ha of ponds have been restored and are being used to produce fish.
Experience from construction works useful to renovate ďŹ sh ponds The new owner is in fact a construction company that builds infrastructure such as canals, roads, pipelines, and sewers, as well as dredges rivers etc. and thus has all the heavy machinery needed for this type of work. This was handy for the renovation of the ponds as much the same 40
kind of machinery is required for this task too. The farm comprises 24 big ponds, winter ponds, and an assortment of smaller ponds that are used to breed small fish. The company has invested in a hatchery in order to control the entire production chain. Having a hatchery reduces the risk of introducing diseases as the larvae are all produced on site and do not come in from outside. Production started at 100-150 tonnes per year, now however, says Mladen Previc, the sales manager, we are producing about 750 tonnes of fish including one-year-olds, two-year-olds, and market-sized fish. The latter amount to about 500 tonnes and current yields are 500-550 kg per ha. Once all the ponds are restored and taken into use greater focus will be placed on raising the yield so that total production can be increased. Fish intended for the market are harvested from the end of October until the middle of December. The fish are transferred from the big on-growing ponds to winter ponds – small ponds that are used to hold the live fish and from where they can be easily removed and delivered to customers. In January and February low temperatures can lead to the formation of ice on the big ponds making it difficult to harvest the fish. From the winter
ponds, however, the fish can easily be taken. The Christmas season is the biggest in terms of sales and consumption of fish, closely followed by the Easter season, and preparations have to be made well in advance to ensure that consumers get the fish when they need it. After Easter and continuing through the summer the consumption of fish declines steeply.
Several species are farmed, but the bulk is common carp The main species being farmed is common carp, which accounts for 80 of the production. The remainder is split between bighead, silver, and amur carp, European catfish, pike and pikeperch. In the hatchery larvae are
Mladen Previc, the sales manager at Ribnjacarstvo Koncanica.
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