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However, fish consumption in 2018 was estimated at 400,000 tonnes.
Ukraine's Association of Fishermen says commercial catching of fish and seafood in Ukraine in 2018 declined by 25% against 2017, and the yield was 61,500 tonnes.
"The yield of fish and other aquatic animals by enterprises of Ukraine's fish industry in 2018 totaled 61,500 tonnes, including 58,000 tonnes of fish against 82,000 tonnes in 2017," the Association's press service said in a statement on January 30.
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At the same time, fish consumption in Ukraine in 2018 was estimated at 400,000 tonnes.
"Ukrainians have increasingly replace expensive meat products with fish, mainly imported from abroad, which affects an entire sector of Ukraine's economy. Today, imported fish and fish products account for 85% of the food basket in Ukraine, while the share of domestic produce is a mere 15%," the report said.
Since 1989, the volume of fish and other aquatic animals caught by Ukrainian fishermen had decreased by 94.5%, from 1.1 million tonnes to 61,500 tonnes in 2018, it said.
According to the press service, today more than 400 business entities that have quotas for the special use of aquatic bioresources, are engaged in fishing. They caught almost 41,500 tonnes of fish and other seafood in 2018.
In 2018, some 8,300 tonnes of fish and other aquatic animals was caught in the Black Sea, 16,100 tonnes in the Sea of Azov, 480.4 tonnes in the Black Sea estuaries, 246.6 tonnes in the Danube River, 1,500 tonnes in the lower area of the Dniester River with an estuary and the Kuchurhan Reservoir, 2,700 tonnes in the Dnipro–Bug estuary, 11,700 tonnes in the Dnipro River, and 189,700 tonnes in other waters, the report said.
In particular, 10,800 tonnes of gobies was caught in Ukraine in the past year, 6,200 tonnes of bleak fish, 5,400 tonnes of crucian carps, 5,400 tonnes of conch shells, 2,400 tonnes of breams, 2,100 tonnes of roaches, and 1,500 tonnes of sprats.
It is also noted that fish farms produced almost 20,000 tonnes of fish and seafood in the past year.
As UNIAN reported earlier, a total of 94,200 tonnes of fish and other aquatic animals was caught in 2017, according the State Agency of Fisheries of Ukraine.