Aquaculture for all

Macedonia and Albania Tackle Illegal Fishing and Trade

Sustainability Economics Politics +4 more

MACEDONIA and ALBANIA - Macedonia and Albania are taking measures to suppress growing organised crime involving the illegal catch and distribution of fish across the border in the Prespa and Ohrid lakes areas, officials said.

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Ohrid police detained six members of a group of Albanian and Macedonian citizens last month for smuggling a large quantity of fish from Albania, reports SETimes.

Police said smugglers illegally catch the fish, usually carp and bleak, then illegally cross the border to Macedonia on foot and leave the catch in buckets. Afterwards they cross the border in large vehicles, pick up the buckets and take the fish to potential buyers.

"[This time] the police stopped them on the regional road to St. Naum," the Macedonian interior ministry told SETimes in a statement.

"We continuously take measures to strengthen controls on water and on land. We co-operate with the Ohrid port authority, the security protection concessionaire and the police in Albania with which we conduct joint patrols," Ivo Kotevski, spokesperson for the interior ministry of Macedonia, told SETimes.

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