The FINANCIAL — In 2018, National Statistics Office of Georgia conducted a pilot survey of existing aquaculture holdings in the country, in which up to 700 aquaculture holdings were surveyed.
The households and legal entities that operated waterbodies used for aquaculture and were engaged in aquacul-ture activities in 2017 were the target population of the survey. As a result of the survey, the main statistical indicators of the aquaculture sector, such as the amount of the fish in the waterbodies and fish production, the average prices of sold fish, the area and structure of waterbodies used for aquaculture were obtained.
The survey results show that area of waterbodies used for aquacultures was 4 309.0 hectares by the end of 2017, of which 2 224.6 hectares was pond area, 27.6 hectares – pool area and 2 056.8 hectares – reservoir and natural waterbodies area (lake or part of lake, part of river and part of sea).
By 31 December of 2017, the largest part of ponds were located in Kakheti with 1 473.5 hect-ares of total area. The pond area in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti equaled to 476.2 hectares, in Imereti – 103.5 hectares and in other regions – 171.5 hectares.
By the end of 2017, the largest part of the pools were located in Shida Kartli with 18.2 hectares of total area. The area of pools located in Samtskhe-Javakheti equaled to 3.5 hectares, in Adjara – 1.8 hectares, in Guria – 1.7 hectares and in other regions up to 2.4 hectares.
The chart below shows the area of waterbodies used for aquacultures by the types of water-bodies by the end of 2017.
Area of Waterbodies Used for Aquacultures by Types by the End of 2017 (%)
2 041.7 tonnes of fish were produced in aquaculture holdings during the year 2017. Of which
57.0 percent was salmonidae, 38.5 percent – cyprinidae and 3.7 percent – sturgeon.
Rainbow trout has the highest share (98.3 percent) in salmonidae production. Share of silver carp and bighead carp production is 42.7 percent in the total production of cyprinidae family fishes.
In 2017 Kakheti was the leading region in fish production with the share of 35.1 percent of the total fish production in the country, followed by Shida Kartli with 26.6 percent, Guria – 14.3 percent and other regions – 24.0 percent.
By the end of 2017, the total amount of fish in waterbodies was 2 067.6 tonnes, of which 37.8 percent was salmonidae, 51.5 percent – cyprinidae and 9.7 percent – sturgeon. It should be noted that rainbow trout has the highest share (96.8 percent) in the amount of salmonidae available in the waterbodies.In 2017 the average annual price of 1 kg rainbow trout amounted 8.6 GEL.
The average price of common carp and mirror carp was relatively low and equaled to 7.2 GEL. The average price of grass carp was about 5.7 GEL while the average price of silver and bighead carp amounted up to 3.3 GEL.
