Fishermen are hanging on the riots for a big zargan. PHOTO: Tsanko Tsanev

Over the years, 235,125 tickets for recreational fishing have been issued in Bulgaria, compared to just over 238,000 over the years, said Galin Nikolov, director of the Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture (NAFA).

Show me, when analyzing the words in recent years, it is clear that there are no serious changes in the number of those wishing to practice their legitimate hobby. The issue is expected to change the price of fishing tickets, Nikolov said, so far no increase is expected. According to him, this is also true for other services provided by NAFA.

Over the years, the Agency’s staff has carried out more than 16,000 water checks on the site, and more than 95,441 meters of nets and 880 different devices and equipment have been confiscated from violators. The poachers are quite expeditious, resourceful and well-equipped, Nikolov admitted. According to him, however, the Agency can successfully oppose them, as as employees they have good facilities, high-speed cars, night vision devices, thermal cameras. The technique makes it easier to check and fight poaching, we try to always be one step ahead of violators, added Nikolov. The successful interaction between the Agency and other institutions also helps in their work, and invaluable help is provided by the fishermen’s fans themselves, who give signals.

According to the director of NAFA, it is not possible to give a specific answer to the question of which reservoirs are most often poached, as the violations are too different to be unambiguous. However, around St. Nicholas Day, a contingent is always activated, trying to make easy money by offering illegally caught fish, Nikolov said. According to him, so far the Agency has managed to deal with this problem, and to ensure that goods with proven origin are exposed to the markets. This is further due to the fact that this year nearly 9,000 kilograms of fish were confiscated, of which about 2,400 were donated, mainly to various social specialists.

For the fishing fleet in our country Nikolov signal that you are officially registering vessels for commercial fishing with 3 653 – 1 796 in the Black Sea and 1 857 in the Danube River. According to him, in recent years the number of seafarers has decreased, but only slightly. The reason is that, as members of the EU, my restriction and any registration of a new vessel requires it to correspond to the same capacity in the fishing fleet register.

Regarding poaching at sea and violations of quotas, setting our page for catching turbot and sprat Nikolov points out that the problem is largely solved. During the year before, the IARA imposed severe sanctions on several vessels, including disqualifications from participating in the allocation of quotas or using its projects under the Maritime and Fisheries Program. We have proved that IARA works and will not allow violating the rules for responsible and legal fishing in the Black Sea, Nikolov said. He added that for the strict control in the water area they rely on their good cooperation with other state institutions – Border Police, Maritime Administration, BFSA, Customs. With them, the Agency has both a good exchange of information and joint activities in the fight against illegal and unreported fishing.

In recent years, the institution has also established a very good monitoring and control partnership with the European Fisheries Control Agency, Frontex, as well as with the authorities in Romania. This also has an impact on limiting illegal fishing activities, Nikolov stressed.

To set quotas for our country for turbot and sprat in the Black Sea, the NAFA Director recalled that they were adopted on the basis of a multi-annual management plan. Our current quota for turbot of 75 tonnes is within the three-year period from 2020 to 202 years and no change is expected in 2 years. The same is true for our sprat quota – 8,302.5 tons, which, according to Nikolov, is quite sufficient for our fishing fleet.

IARA has very good cooperation with students from the Institute of Fish Resources and the Institute of Oceanology in Varna, thus conducting research to monitor fish stocks in the Black Sea, said the director of IARA. According to him, if these estimates show a stable and sustainable state of the population, our country could hope for a future increase in quotas.

The 44th annual session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean was held in November, reaffirming the desire to transfer the untapped quota from 2020 to 2021 and thus enable fisheries, which due to the pandemic failed to absorb their quotas, to be able to do so now. I consider this to be the Ministry of State in the face of the success of agriculture, food and forestry, our Permanent Representation to the EU, as well as NAFA, “said Nikolov.

It is possible to change the following year during the years of the Public Director in the deadlines for determining the next period of public fishing of the Agency to note that it is always discussed with the participation of all stakeholders. The whole point of any ban is to preserve biodiversity in the best possible way and to improve stocks, both at sea and in inland waters, citing Nikolov. He clarified that if the need for a change in the ban regime is proved, NAFA is ready to make the necessary changes.

Nikolov said that the work in the conditions of the pandemic was not the reason for the employees of the Agency not to carry out systematic inspections and to counteract the violation of the law. According to him, people are first and foremost provided with all the necessary protective equipment so that you do not push yourself and work calmly. The director of IARA expressed hope that in the new year the number of employees with control functions will be increased and new motivated people will be appointed.