Good Practice Project
The small city of Corabia has a long tradition in fisheries and was always known for its maritime heritage. It even lends its name to an ancient ship, the Corabia.
Located on the banks of the Danube, in the south of Olt County, the city has more than 170 small scale fishermen. While the city’s fisheries sector has traditionally been reasonably profitable, most of fisherman are unable to sell their catch locally due to a lack of a physical fish market. Confronted with the challenges of long marketing chains and difficulties accessing other markets in the region, fisherman have seen their livelihoods decline in recent years.
With the help of the FLAG, the Olt fisheries association asked the local municipality to support them in planning a local fish market to sell their catch. Construction of a building for the market with facilities meeting European standards soon followed, allowing fisherman to sell their catch directly. More than 1 200 kg of fish per day is now being sold here including species such as: wels catfish, northern pike and zander. The local market also serves as a handling area and auction, including for the neighbouring villages.
The local auction and fish market has considerably improved conditions for the sale of fresh fish products, processed fish and aquaculture products in the town of Corabia and is visited by more than 1 000 customers per day. The local auction also provides 12 new jobs of which three are for fishermen or members of their families. The project also led to another investment from a Spanish company who, in partnership with the local fisheries association, opened a nearby fish processing unit. The unit prepares products for the local market, in particular restaurants in Corabia and hypermarkets in the area.
Local fish markets can be a solution for many fisherman in areas where they are unable to access others markets and want to shorten supply chains. This project illustrates how good collaboration between the fisheries sector and public stakeholders can benefit a local community. In this case, the location and equipment is provided by the municipality but other forms of collaboration might be found depending on local needs.
Total project cost | €594 320 |
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FLAG grant |
€594 320
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Timeframe of implementation | From Sep 2014 to Dec 2015 |
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