Aquaculture

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS)

Agriculture and Forestry Division - Unit for livestock and fishery statistics

Dragana Pogarcic

Head of Unit for livestock and fishery statistics

5 Milana Rakića, Belgrade

dragana.pogarcic@stat.gov.rs

+381 11 2412922 ext.243

+381 11 2410397

Data allow tracking of the main indicators in  the aquaculture production for national and internacional needs, namely: the structure of persons engaged on the fish holdings - by sex and  length of  realized work; capacity and structure of the freshwater facilities; the production of fish for consumption in the facilities for carp and trout breeding at first sale for human consumption, as well as price per tonne - by species, FAO major area, cultivation methods; production of fertilised eggs and juveniles at first sale for further on - growing or release to the wild - by species; watercrafts and equipment on fish holdings and certain costs of production.

Aquaculture production statistics as defined in Regulation (EC) No 762/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of  9 July 2008 on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 788/96.    OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 1-13) contain four different annual datasets:

- AQ2A - Aquaculture production volume at first sale for human consumption (excluding hatcheries and nurseries) by species, FAO Major Area, cultivation method and aquatic environment. 

- AQ3 - Input to capture-based aquaculture, i.e. wild seed, by species.

- AQ4 - Production of juveniles and fertilised eggs at first sale for further on-growing or release to the wild by species.

The production volume is measured in tonnes live weight (TLW) and economic value as unit price in national currency per tonne (NAC_T/TLW), with the exception of juveniles and fertilised eggs which are measured in numbers.

In addition, a fifth dataset in three-year periodicity (AQ5) provides information on the size (in hectares, 1000 cubic metres or metres) of aquaculture production facilities segmented by species group, FAO Major Area, cultivation method and aquatic environment.

Phenomena such as production of fish eggs (roe) at first sale for human consumption and input to capture-based aquaculture are not relevant for the Republic of Serbia why these data are not available.

In order to comply with the common EU fisheries policy, for the needs of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, as part of the regular statistical survey Annual report on the production of fish for consumption and juveniles in 2022, certain data were also collected regarding socio-economic indicators in aquaculture. The data refer to the structure of employees by gender, age, country of origin and education, sales of juveniles from carp and trout ponds, food consumption and certain production costs. Part of the relevant data will be provided from an administrative source - the Register of Financial Reports (Agency for Economic Registers). The plan is to continuously provide these data in an annual periodical.

The following classifications are used in data production:

Classification of Activities - KD (2010) ("Official Gazette of the RS", No104/09) based on classification NACE Rev.2 (Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 2);

Reference year (TIME);

Reporting country (GEO) - code defined by ISO3166-1;

Species (SPECIES) - name, scientific name and 3-alfa code, by groups according  to ISSCAAP classification (International Standard Statistical Classification  for Aquatic Animals and Plants);

Production method (AQUAMETH) - according to Regulation (EC) No 762/2008;

Production area (FISHREG) - FAO Major Fishing Areas;

Aquatic environment (AQUAENV) - water types: fresh water (FRW), see water (SEA) and brackish water (BRK).

For the Republic of Serbia relevant  ‘FAO major areas’ is 5 (European inland waters). Regarding 'Cultivation method' relevant are ponds, tanks and cages in fresh water as a water type.

Covered is commercial aquaculture production destined to human consumption.

Aquaculture emphasizes the growth or cultivation of aquatic organisms, use of the techniques which is achieved by increasing the production of these organisms beyond the capacity of the natural environment.

Fish ponds, fish-walled parts of the fishing water and the cages are arranged on the land areas or fishing water intended for the cultivation and production of fish, juveniles and fertilized roe, which meet the prescribed conditions.

Fish holding is technically and economically independent production unit, which has a single management and which, as a primary or secondary activity, carries out the production of fish for consumption and juveniles for the market. Fish holding can be a legal person, entrepreneur or family holding, depending on whether it is, in accordance with the law governing the registration of business entities, registered in the Business Registers Agency to carry out the production of fish for consumption and juveniles or registered in other activitiy and  this production is performed under this status (legal entity / entrepreneur),  or not registered in the Business Registers Agency (family fish holding).

For the nacional needs, total area of ​​the fish holding includes, in addition to productive areas of the water, also cultivated land, the forest area, buildings, roads and the rest non-arable land that is used for the production in the ponds and forms an inseparable part of the fish farm.

The surface of the water in use  comprises used productive water surface in the course of the observed year, and it may be equal to or less than the total productive area.

Juveniles are individuals in the period between the completion of the development of the metamorphosis of larvae, and the acquisition of full maturity.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 762/2008 production of  fish for consumption and juveniles means a quantity of fish for consumption that is sent to the market (sold) during the reporting period (realized production of fish for consumption-first sale) and produced juveniles for sale. Only production for human consumption is considered. Ornamental or functional species as well as feed production is excluded.

Statistical unit is aquaculture production facility.
 

Тhe target population are all commercially active aquaculture production facilities.

Reference area is the Republic of Serbia.

Notes: Since 1999 Statistical Office of the Republic Of Serbia does not answer for  the specific data for AP Kosovo and Metohija and these data  are not included in the coverage for the Republic of Serbia (total)

Data are available from 1963. Time series has been interrupted several times. Due to harmonization with Regulation (EC) No 762/2008 most important changes were introduced in 2013.

Not applicable.

Capacity (area) of carp facilities is published in hectares (ha).

Capacity  (area, or volume) of trout facilities is published in meters squared (m²), or in thousands of cubic meters (000 m³),  as noted in the table.

Employment information relating to the number of employees by gender and duration of work realized in the relevance year.

The quantity of produced  fish for consumption is published in tons (t).

Average price  per tonne of produced fish for consumption for a certain species is reported in RSD (Serbian dinar).

Production of eggs is published in the millions of units.

Juveniles production is published in the millions of units, or in tons (t).

Data refer to the calendar year. The latest available data refer to 2022.

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (in further text: SORS) is responsable institution for providing relevant data. Data are provided on the basis of the Regulation on defining the plan of official statistics for the referent year in accordance with the Law on Official Statistics ("Official Gazette of RS", number 104/09), the Law on Livestock Breeding ("Official Gazette of RS", No. 41/2009, 93/2012 and  14/2016) and Regulation (EC) No 762/2008.

Relevant data represent the official statistics and are used to meet all national and international needs (Eurostat, FAO).

Individual data are the official statistical data and as such are confidential and subject to special protection, which is provided in all phases of  research. Confidentiality of individual data is guaranteed by the Law on oficial statistics. Any abuse of official statistics for misdemeanor charges, in accordance with the Law.

Individual data are published only in aggregated form.

Data are published on the SORS website  and in SORS  publications, according to the Release Calendar.

Release Calendar for the relevant year is published on the website of the SORS  and can be accessed via the following link:

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/calendar

Data are available to all users on equal terms, in electronic or printed form, free. Further, special data processing for specific users requirements is possible.  Method of utilization and disemination of  data produced by SORS is governed by the Rulebook on the use and disamination of data produced by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, which was adopted by the SORS Director, in accordance with the Law on Official Statistics and the Law on State Administration ("Official Gazette" no. 79/05).

Data are published yearly for national needs,  while data transmition to Eurostat is performed in annual and three-year periodicals (structure of the aquaculture sector).

News release is not scheduled.

Data can be found in the SORS complex publication "Statistical Yearbook".

Published data  on the site can be free accessed via the following link:  

http://data.stat.gov.rs/?caller=SDDB

The data are available to users only in aggregated form, in accordance with the law.

Data transmission to Eurostat is done by SDMX files. Data  for FAO are transmitted in the form of excel tables by e-mail. There are no other forms of dissemination.

Extract of the methodology is published on SORS websajt:

https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2018/PdfE/G201820014.pdf

Questionnaire can be accessed via the following link:

https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2023/PdfE/G202324068.pdf

For information on Quality Reports see section Quality assurance.

General framework for quality assurance is defined by the Declaration on the quality or the Quality Policy, which can be accessed via the following link: http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2334/quality-policy.pdf

Quality control is carried out at all stages of data production. First of all, this control refers to a coverage control and  updating of reporting units address book. In the first phase of the questionnaires control completeness and accuracy of filled questionnaires is carried out . Further, data are controled during data entry in IST program according to the defined criteria of logical and computy control.

Quality of data can be estimated as satisfactory.

Users of these data are the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Agency for environmental protection, Institute of Biology, other institutions and institutes, journalists, students and other individuals.

In order to define appropriate content of the questionnaire for this survey representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and other experts in this field were consulted, and EU legislation was examined, to get data that would satisfy national and international needs.

Around 80% of data requested under Regulation (EU) No 762/2008 is estimated to meet national data needs. Additional data that are provided for national needs are: the structure of employees on fish holdings - by sex and  length of  realized work, watercrafts and equipment on fish holdings and  some costs of production.

Data are full harmonized with Regulation (EC) No 762/2008.

Data are obtained by full coverage of the reporting units. Accuracy can be assessed as medium.

Not relevant.

Control of the coverage of reporting units is done in SORS regional offices, included making contact with units and providing additional information regarding the filling in the questionnaire.

The first control of questionnaires is done in the SORS regional offices, too. During the control these errors are corrected on the basis of checking with certain reporting unit and thereafter controlled data entry is performed.  There is no record on the number of these errors.

For the national purposes data are published four months after the reference period. The deadline for submitting data to Eurostat is 31. December of the current for the previous year.

The information is published in a timely manner, in accordance with the defined deadlines. Data collection process start on 10 February. Deadline for data providers to respond  is 1 March. In order to conduct the follow-up interviews the deadline for data providers to respond to the survey was extended until 1 April. Processing and compilation of data for the national purposes takes 4 weeks.  Тhe deadline for the publishing of results is on 4 May of the current for the previous year. Extract data for submission to Eurostat takes 5 hours.

There are not differences in the definition of the characteristics between national data and those described in Regulation (EU) No 762/2008.

Comparable-complete time series is available only from 2013.

Data on total area of carp and trout facilities and production of juveniles are availabe since 1963.  Since 1997 the available data are: employees on fish farms - total, watercrafts and equipment, the capacity of carp and trout facilities, production of fish for consumption and juveniles and consumed amount of feed and fertilizers. Since 2006 data on the number of employees by gender and length of realized working hours, production of eggs, larvae, age-old and two-age-old juveniles are collected, and since 2013 capacity of the cages, the prices on the first sale of fish for consumption per unit of measure (RSD/kg) and certain costs of production on fish holdings are available, too.
 

There are no other relevant statistical data, except data on the total number of employees in the fisheries and aquaculture activity  that are the result of survey based on combining the data of the Central Registry of Compulsory Social Insurance of the Republic of Serbia and the Statistical Business Register.

Statistical data within the data set are consistent.

Funds for the production of relevant statistical data are provided from the budget of the Republic of Serbia. As this is in annual periodicity and there are small number of reporting units, the production costs of these data are insignificant. Estimated burden of reporting unit is 120 minutes per year (burden in total in the last reference year was 15 360 minutes ie 256 h). 

General policy revision was adopted by the institution, it is available on the SORS website and can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti

Data revision was not applied in the reference year.

Data are obtained by comprehensive regular statistical survey Anual report on production of fish for consumption and juveniles in aquaculture. The list of reporting units was optained using the Statistical Business Register of the Republic of Serbia and Evidention of aquaculture facilities of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management (Veterinary Administration). 182 reporting units from which commercial production is expected  were on the list for 2022.

Data relating to the number of delivered eggs and juveniles for release to the wild - by species are estimated on the basis of  the results of the restocking from the comprehensive regular statistical survey Annual fish catch in rivers, lakes and canals. In order to provide relevant data in millions, average mass of eggs (1kg=800000 eggs) and juveniles (age-old=0.150kg; two age-old=0.950kg) are applied on quantities (kg) of eggs and juveniles released to the wild. There were not any differences in the definition of the variables between estimates and those described in the Regulation (EC) No 762/2008 as well as some special limitations and drawbacks of estimation wich could significantly affect the data quality.

Data are collected on annual basis, in the period 10 February - 1 March of the current for the previous year.

The survey Anual report on production of fish for consumption and juveniles in aquaculture is conducted through SORS regional offices (16). Data are collected by reporting method, by mail - using printed questionnaire, or via e-mail. Reporting units are contacted in order to provide information on the implementation of the survey and questionnaires are sent with explaining regarding deadlines and completing the questionnaire by 10 February. Reporting units are obliged to forward completed questionnaire to corresponding SORS regional office by 1 March (for follow-up interviewing deadline is 1 April). Controlled data entry is done by SORS regional offices up to 1 April. Further data processing and analysis are done centralized by 4 May when data are published.

Automatic and manual validation  of the dataset completness are implemented. Data validation is performed on the basis of the previous year results.

Controlled data entry and data processing are done in program IST (developed by SORS). Non response of reporting units and non response on certain questions for key variables are solved by imputation data from the last year report of the same response unit  or from reports of other units from the current year, if it is relevant and possible.

Not applicable.

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