Joint 20 th CBD AG & 18 th FOMLR Meeting Archil Guchmanidze Deputy Head Fisheries and Black Sea Monitoring Division National Environmental Agency Istanbul, Turkey March 31 st April 1 st
National Legislation Law on animals of Georgia (1996); Technical regulations on Fisheries and fish stocks (2013); Fish catch rules for scientific-research purposes (2011); Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection issues separate Orders on the issues of fisheries terms (time) and licenses.
Main Institutions Regulating: Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection (MENR) Supervising (Controlling): Black Sea Protection Conventional Service (Department of Environmental Supervision MENR); Coastal guard (Ministry of Internal Affairs); Administration of Kolkheti Protected Area (Protected Areas Agency - MENR). Consultative-Research: Fisheries and Black Sea Monitoring Division (National Environmental Agency MENR).
Industrial Fisheries License at the Black Sea coast of Georgia Fisheries (Fish catch) license on the Black Sea was issued in 2006 for 10 years period (until 2016) in the type of several lots; today the license is owned by 5 companies: 24% 27% 1 AISBERGI 2 19% 25% 5% 2 GEOFISH COMPANY 3 PALIASTOMI 2004 4 M.B.M. 5 SEA PRODUCTS The license implies exclusive right on the catch of fish and other living organisms in the territorial waters of the Black Sea of Georgia.
Some of the license conditions: Not less than 2/3 of the obtained resource must be processed on the territory of Georgia; In accordance with the quota approved by the Ministry of Environment and Natural resources Protection the owners of license pay natural resources tax (fees) (25 GEL= 10.5 Euro) per ton and regulating fee (15 GEL = 6.3 Euro), in total 40 GEL or 16.8 Euro per each ton. The payment is carried out preliminarily; Each owner of license must give free (without any payment) 10 percent of the fisheries quota approved by the Ministry of Environment and Natural resources Protection proportionally to the local fisheries vessels, there were 43 such vessels at the moment of issuing licenses, by today there are 30 operational vessels; The fish catching by the owners of the fisheries licenses is mainly carried out with the help of leased fish vessels from abroad (Turkey) since it is impossible to catch the amount of fish indicated by the quota by the local fish fleet. According to the licensing conditions the license owners have right to bring not more than 20 fish vessels at a time from abroad. It should be noted that during the recent years the license owners purchased (obtained) 4 new fish catching vessels.
Artisanal Fisheries Small groups (3-6 people) of Artisanal fishermen are stationed at the Georgian Black Sea coast actually in all settled areas. The amount of such groups amounts to 250. They use traditional fishing gears (Trammel nets, Gill nets, Long lines, Beach seines, Casts nets, Fish traps) and small, 7 meter long boats for fish catch.
According to the national legislation this type of fish catch does not require license and is permitted within 1 mile from the coast. Neither they are obliged by the legislation to register the caught fish; relevantly the information on the amount of the fish caught during one year by them is based on the expert assessment. There already have been prepared the list (register) of domestic fishermen, the work for the registry to bring in order the information on the fish obtained by them is underway. It should be noted that until 2014 the domestic fishermen of the coast had right of not licensed fish catch only within 300 meters from the coast, in 2014 this area increased from 300 meters to one mile which is the most significant change in the last year s fisheries legislation.
Fishing Area In 2012 there was carried out the zoning of the Black Sea coastal area where it is permitted to catch fish, the zones where it is permitted to use of trawls for bottom fishing, bentho-pelagic fishing and light construction dredges for industrial purposes were marked out.
It is prohibited to catch fish in the following areas: 1. From environmental point of view Kolkheti National Park s marine section and the marine area near the river mouths where sturgeon/salmon appear. 2. From technical view point the fish catch is prohibited in the following areas Supsa oil terminal s operating zone and port water areas. There is work underway for marking out Mariculture zones.
Fishing and Ecological Zones of Georgian Territorial Sea
Fisheries fleet, Fishing Gears and Ports The local fisheries fleet is represented by 34 vessels.: Out of them 4 seiners are new» while the rest s (30 vessels) age is over 30 years»
The majority of the local seiners carry out the fish catching by the use of pelagic and universal trawls, and only several of them are equipped with purse seines. At a time there are 20 seiners coming into the Georgian waters, mainly from Turkey for the catch of Anchovy (in November-April). The all of them for fisheries usepurse seines. The seiners are stationed in the ports of Batumi and Poti.
Fish Catch Over 90% of the caught fish is anchovy, horse mackerel stands second by its importance. The species of fish like red mullet, whiting, and gray mullets caught in less quantity. The amount of other species is very insignificant. Anchovy Catches in the Georgian Coast (tons) 2012-2015 CATCH TAC 57000 60000 71000 80000 61000 85000 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015
Realization, Processing and Export of Fish Catches In Poti port there are 5 fish processing factories, out of them 4 are producing fish flour and oil, and one is freezing the fish by shock. Name of company Capacity per 24 hours (tons) Type of product AISBERGI 2 800 1000 Fish flour and oil SEA PRODUCTS 800 1000 Fish flour and oil GEOFISH COMPANY 700 800 Fish flour and oil M.B.M. 1000 Fish flour and oil PALIASTOMI 2004 20 frozen fish with shock
Realization, Processing and Export of Fish Catches (2014) processed into fish flour and oil 4% 11% realized (sold) locally (in Georgia) exported (cooled and frozen) to Turkey, Armenia and Ukraine 85%