Romania's turbot fishing quota in the Black Sea was an issue intensively negotiated with European Commission. The outcome for 2012 was a stable but low figure of 43,2 tonnes. The most important way of releasing the pressure on natural resources is to develop an aquaculture system for the species subject to a conservation measure. Taking advantage of the market opportunities and of the European Fisheries Fund – Axis 2 a Romanian company, ELCOMEX AQUA srl, applied successfully for a EUR 3,000,000 investment in a Seawater Recirculation System for turbot on the shore of Black Sea.

Using the experience and the technology of Danish – Norwegian AKVA Group, the recirculation system was built on 4600 sq.m. and has a capacity of 150 tonnes per year of market size turbot. First stocking of the system with juveniles from Denmark, is planned to happen in November and they will be kept in the growing tanks until they will reach marketable size (1,8 - 2,0 kg/piece). The first yield is expected in February – March 2014 and will be supplied live or fresh to the domestic market and to HORECA.

Source: ROMFISH

The first salmon farming and processing operation in the southern hemisphere were recently certified to the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) standard,

The presence of APROMAR on the Advisory Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA) of the European Commission (EC) has been strengthened with the appointment of its director, Javier Ojeda, as President of the Working Group (WG) on aquaculture. The Advisory Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture is the permanent forum of the European Commission for dialogue with the industry. ACFA has regular meetings in Brussels, at the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG-Mare) of the EC.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture on its website has reported a meeting with representatives of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) on 15 May 2012 in Klaipeda,

According to Dienas Business Kolumbija Ltd, a producer of canned fish, has started the construction of a new fish farm with a production capacity of 160-170 tonnes. About LVL2 million (ca. EUR2.9 million) have been invested in the project of which LVL1.1 million will come from the European Fisheries Fund and the rest from the Trasta komercbanka. The plant will use recirculation technology and farm rainbow trout, sturgeon, eel and African catfish. The first  release of juveniles of these species into 50 tanks is planned already in November.