Marine Fisheries and Mariculture in Croatia: Economic and Trade Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify the state and trends in Croatian marine resource sector which determine the trade balance with Italy. Firstly, size and the structure of the marine fisheries in Croatia are investigated taking into account time trends and the effects of the EU common market policy. Furthermore, we compared the size of export and import of the fishery products. In particular, we look at the relevant indicator of trade with Italy. Since the wholesale market places are established with difficulties in Croatia, the trade channels of the marine fishery products are rather heterogeneous. Next, the market size and structure are analyzed for the specific markets, together with the analysis of the information asymmetry problems. The analysis results with several findings including that the total fish catch volume is accompanied by a decrease in fish catch value. Furthermore, the gap between Italian and Croatian catches in the Mediterranean Sea shrink, and more fish products are exported from Croatia to Italy than imported from Italy to Croatia. The average size of Croatian fishing fleet vessel is still much lower than the average fishing vessel size arriving at Croatian ports. Finally, fish market is underdeveloped in Croatia with low value added created along the trading chains.