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Will supply products to educational institutions
The Lampetra Fisheries Companies Association, the Coastal Commercial and Recreational Fisheries Association, the Lithuanian Fisheries Producers Association and the Lithuanian Agricultural Quality Cooperative signed an agreement on Thursday.
From now on, it will be aimed at supplying the fish caught in the Curonian lagoon and the territorial waters of the Lithuanian Baltic Sea to the residents of the cities and regions of Lithuania, creating more favorable conditions for local sales, rather than the export of non-value-added fish caught. To achieve this, the goal will be to create logistics centers, processing infrastructure, sales network.
Efforts will also be made to create the highest added value possible by strengthening the partnership between fishermen, small processors and farmers through trade in mobile farmers markets, supplying products to retail chains and small shops, and providing healthier food for garden gardens. childhood and schools.
The aim will be to increase the initiative for shorter food chains so that natural wild fish and products are sold directly from fishermen and reach the largest possible proportion of Lithuanian consumers. Fishermen will be encouraged to develop more innovative foods using species of lower economic value; the knowledge, variety and availability of such species will be expanded.
“It is quite difficult to get fresh fish in Vilnius, not frozen, the situation is similar in other cities. We also want to promote the trade not only of fish with higher added value, but also of the favorites of less Lithuanians. For example, in Lithuania, quite a few cockroaches or sea bream are caught, but a large part of this fish is exported, mainly to Latvia, where it is made from canned food.
Therefore, we want to encourage Lithuanian fishermen to establish their own workshops or for small Lithuanian producers to start producing products from freshly caught fish. Of course, those products would only be valid for 3-4 days, but the goal will be to deliver the products to consumers as soon as possible.
We will try to implement this through markets, we will also think about the possibility of supplying products to retail chains and small shops, and in cooperation with farmers we will supply a healthier range for schools and kindergartens ”, said Mindaugas Maciulevičius, Director of Quality Lithuanian agricultural.
Manufacturers account for only 10 percent. profit
It was also supported by Siga Jakubauskienė, director of the LAMPETRA Fishing Companies Association, although 1.2 thousand fish are caught per year in Lithuania. tons of fish, but about 25-30 percent. they have to be exported, because some fish are not processed in Lithuania, because the production is not developed. It is mainly exported to Latvia, Poland, where there are drying and canning factories.
“For example, we catch a lot of bream, but they are popular in Lithuania for smoking only, so our goal is to discover technological methods to process this fish so that it can be sold fresh. Also, the lamprey is very popular in Latvia and the Lithuanians do not eat much of it.
Therefore, we want to encourage our fishermen and producers to think about expanding the range in Lithuania, increasing awareness of lesser known fish. Products must be certified to provide more information on nutritional value. If fishermen and producers sold products to locals instead of exporting them, they would earn more.
Manufacturers now account for only about 10 percent. 90% for intermediaries. For this reason, our objective is to sell the products directly and the price of fish could fall ”, she is convinced.
According to M. Maciulevičius, there are curious situations in Lithuania: for example, Lithuanians curse the land, they say they are invasive and evil fish, when in Spain they are a delicacy. “When I see 20 ct / kg of grodels sold for pig feed in a market, it hurts me that we are not doing something like that. At the end of the day, if prepared correctly, it would be a great food full of proteins and microelements, a favorite too of the gourmets ”, lamented the director.
Alfonsas Bargaila, President of the Lithuanian Fisheries Producers Association, explained that although many sprats are caught in Lithuania, Lithuanians do not buy them fresh and there is no one to process them in Lithuania. About 70 percent. these fish are exported as fishmeal, although they could be properly prepared and sold.
The cod will have to be forgotten
According to M. Maciulevičius, the quantities of fish that are now sold in markets and delivered to processing shops and workshops are quite small. Although most of the higher value-added fish is sold on the local market, there is a surplus of low-value fish in Lithuania as there is no demand on the market.
“We see great potential in this fish, so we will make efforts to manufacture products that are in demand for it. For example, producers who have recently started producing minced fish are already feeling the support of consumers because it is cheap and healthy, ”he explained.
M. Maciulevičius explained that although all fish have high nutritional value, the economic value (consumer choice, desire to buy) is different for each type of fish. According to him, when the by-catch falls, it is necessary to increase the price of each kilogram of fish and not export it abroad, therefore, the objective is to promote that all the fish caught in Lithuania is processed and sold in the country. .
According to A.Bargaila, Lithuanians will have to forget about cod for at least the next 2-3 years, because it cannot be caught. “Although we have not caught this fish for 2 years, the recovery of its population is quite bad; scientists say that it is affected by climate change.” It is still lightly caught in the Western Baltic and not in the Eastern Baltic.
Of the known fish, we have herring, which we catch little, and sprats and we smell. We still have plaice, but it is difficult to fish because cod can be caught in by-catch. And there are drastic fines for cod, so it is not worth the risk for fishermen, “said the president about the risks.
Expect commercial fishing not to be banned
Follow Jakubauskienė says that it has been noticed that the fisheries in Lithuania have strengthened only in recent years, when fishermen have received quotas for 5 years and started to be able to receive support from the European Union (EU) and establish processing workshops . Future plans are also being bolder, because in the past, fishermen only received quotas for 1 year and they were afraid to do something because they did not know if they would receive a quota next year.
“But when we found out that the government had plans to ban commercial fishing in the Curonian Lagoon, it was very unpleasant. Annual surveys, seabream and cockroach populations are good and experts do not recommend a ban on this fishery. So we hope that the government will take into account the opinions of experts and fishermen. Even more so because both the EU and the government itself consider a sustainable food production system a priority, they say it needs to be improved and expanded in Lithuania, “he said.
