Zomitsa Rusinova, who is responsible for developing Atlantik’s business strategies, said that in line with global trends, the company is focusing its business on aquaculture projects in view of ever declining fishing quotas worldwide. Atlantik’s immediate projects include a mussel farm and a hatchery for barramundi fish on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.
The mussel farm, to be completed this spring in the town of Primorsko, has cost EUR800,000 and is co-financed by the European Union’s SAPARD programme. Its first harvest is expected in the spring of 2008, with annual production thereafter to total around 600 tonnes a year.
Atlantik has also started constructing a fish hatchery for barramundi, a large freshwater fish, costing EUR500,000. The hatchery will be completed in March this year near Atlantik’s fish port in Burgas. Initially, the hatchery will have a capacity of 20 tonnes of fish per breeding cycle.
Rusinova noted that of the 27 EU member states, only the Netherlands is breeding barramundi. Atlantik will introduce barramundi to the Bulgarian market and seek to export the fish to the rest of Europe.
TheFishSite News Desk