Handžar: Fisheries can be the future of BiH exports

Fish farming is one of the most promising sectors of the economy in BiH, but the state is doing nothing to develop this sector, claims the president of the Fishery Group in the Federation of BiH for the BiH news agency Patria (NAP), Dževad Handžar.

He explains that before the heavy snowfall that hit BiH in 2012, our country produced about five thousand tons of fish annually, of which 60 percent was exported.

Handžar says that there were fixed contracts with Italy that guaranteed the purchase of fish produced in BiH.

However, large flood deposits that year caused enormous damage to fish farms, and a large number of fish escaped.

Fish production in BiH has now fallen to about 3.5 thousand tons, and many large contracts with foreign partners have been terminated.

- Thousands of workers who were once employed by aluminum complexes in the country could now be employed by fish farms – says Handžar.

- Unfortunately, the state still does not want to help us and encourage this branch of the economy, which has shown that it has potential. It's as if we don't exist for state and entity authorities. We only connect with them when we have to pay taxes – Handžar complains.

According to statistical data, BiH is the tenth country in Europe in terms of fish production. This is, says Handžar, primarily due to the quality waters that our country has, which directly reflects on the quality of fish meat itself.