Government Contacts & Information resources for Commercial Fishing, Seafood, Aquaculture, Marine & Oceans in Albania

ALBANIA FISHERYCapital: Tirana
Population: 3.6 million (July 2009 est.)
Monetary unit: 1 lek (ALL)= 100 qindars
GDP: €16,675 billion (2009 est.)
GDP/capita: €4.577 (2009 est.)
Major language: Albanian
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 69 years (men), 74 years (women)
Main exports: Chromium and chrome products, processed foodstuffs
International dialing code: +355
Internet domain: .al

Albania- A rapidly growing aquaculture industry (Feb 2010)
The fisheries sector in Albania can be divided into marine, coastal covering inshore and lagoon, and inland fisheries. Marine fisheries takes place along the entire 450 km coastline including its territorial waters 12 miles offshore.

In the north the continental shelf is larger and the slope to the 200 m isobath is less steep making the area easier to trawl, while in the south the slope is steep and the shelf is uneven and rocky making trawling more difficult. Fishing activities are therefore concentrated on the continental shelf zone extending for 25 miles in the north, but only for 2-4 miles in the south.

Fish facts (2009)

Total value of import: €3.643 million
Total value of export: €4,301 million
Total amount of fish caught: 3595 tonnes
No. of fishing vessels: 212 (33 inactive)
Main Species caught: Hake, mullet, cuttlefish, squid, seabream and seabass

Albania (officially the Republic of Albania) is a country in South Eastern Europe. Albania is a parliamentary democracy and a transition economy. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign in- vestment.

Albania has a total area of 28,750 square kilometers. Its coastline is 362 kilometres long and extends along the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.

Fishing in Albania is primarily marine fisheries, although lagoon and inland fishing does take place on a limited scale. During recent years Aquaculture is being increasingly promoted. Albania has a well established fishing industry with capacities to process fresh and frozen fish and seafood as well as to trans-form them into delicious ready to eat products as marinated salads or canned food, or skewers.

Albanian seafood industry delivers as well the domestic market as well many export destinations mainly in southern Europe.  

Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profile for Albania  - aquatic species caught by country or area, by species items, by FAO major fishing areas, and year, for all commercial, industrial, recreational and subsistence purposes. The harvest from mariculture, aquaculture and other kinds of fish farming is also included.

An international bottom trawl survey in the Mediterranean - In the Mediterranean, the main demersal fisheries are localized on narrow continental shelves along the coasts. Experiences during the last decades in this area have shown that it was difficult to obtain a global estimate of the demersal resources from fishing activity, especially due to the very large dispersion of the landing places, the important diversity of the species caught and the scarceness of reliable statistics. This situation has induced different European Union States to conduct national programmes for the assessment of these resources from repetitive trawl surveys. A lot of the demersal resources in the Mediterranean are considered as fully or over-exploited.

Some fish species found in Mediterranean

Latin name

Citharus linguatula

Eutrigla gurnardus

Helicolenus dactylopterus

Lepidorhombus boscii

Lophius budegassa

Lophius piscatorius

Merluccius merluccius

Micromesistius potassou

Mullus barbatus

Mullus surmuletus

Pagellus acarne

Pagellus bogaraveo

Pagellus erythrinus

Pagrus pagrus

Phycis blenoides

Raja clavata

Solea vulgaris

Spicara flexuosa

Trachurus mediterraneus

Trachurus trachurus

Trisopterus min. capelanus

Zeus faber

Aristaeomorpha foliacea

Aristeus antennatus

Nephrops norvegicus

Parapenaeus longirostris

Eledone cirrhosa

Eledone moschata

Illex coindetti

Loligo vulgaris

Octopus vulgaris

Sepia oficinalis