Bucharest, Jan 21 /Agerpres/ - The Minister of the Environment, Waters and Forestry Mircea Fechet declared on Tuesday, in Constanta, that from this year, as a first for Romania, fish farms will operate at the Black Sea, with certain concessions perimeters having already been awarded for carrying out this activity.

Fechet said he was looking forward to eating shellfish or fish 'from our fish farms off the Black Sea, and not imported from thousands of kilometers away.'

'For the first time, we are going to have fish farms here, on the Black Sea, offshore there are a number of perimeters already assigned in the public auction procedure, just as colleagues from the Romanian Waters National Administration are going to assign other lots as well This means that, starting this year, we will have mussels produced here, oysters produced here, and several species of fish that today we import either from Greece or from Bulgaria. I saw how colleagues from the institute monitor the adaptation capacity of the salmon trout in the Black Sea water and the sea bass, a fish very loved by consumers,' the environment minister told a press conference.

According to him, the discussion related to fish farms off the Black Sea has been going on for decades in our country, while such investments have been made in Bulgaria.

'We all know that this is already happening in Bulgaria, a short distance from where we are, and one of the first things I announced when I came here to Constanta during the mandate the past, it's true, was this. a sufficient period of time, which we estimated at the time at 20 years, to amortize all those investments', Fechet also said.

Regarding the problems that investors in fish farms have, related to the difficulty of obtaining authorizations and the need for infrastructure on the beach, the minister said that 'there is a constant dialogue' between the authorities and them, and solutions will be found.

'I am convinced that no breeder of mussels, oysters, bream, sea bass or any other species adapted to the Black Sea, I express my hope that no one will walk around with boxes of fish among the deckchairs. I am convinced that we will also ensure the infrastructure necessary, which could differ depending on the type of technology, the type of fish farm, but I think these things must be done along the way', the Minister of the Environment, Mircea Fechet also said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Nona Jalba; editor: Marius Fratila; EN - editor: Bogdan Gabaroi)