Montenegro has everything it needs to feed or supply, without exaggeration, at least half of Europe, if the economic, development and tourism potential of Lake Skadar were used in the right way, said Democrat MP Momčilo Leković, reacting to the adoption of the Law on Market Organization in fisheries and aquaculture.
"I claim that the economic or development and tourism potential of Lake Skadar, if used in the right way, is enough to place Montenegro at least among the middle developed European countries without any problems," Leković said in a statement sent to the media.
However, the representative of the Democrats adds that in order to achieve this, it is necessary to fulfill several conditions.
"The first is the protection of the fish stock, because even today we have the destruction of the fish stock, from dynamite to electricity and other 'aids', which represents a classic crime against the environment and the fish stock. The state must strongly oppose this. On the other hand, good connoisseurs of the situation know that the Skadar Lake has about thirty places called 'eyes', the depth of which is 40 meters, where the fish concentrate, and it is in these places that it becomes a very easy target for illegal fishing," he pointed out.
He also explained how to provide production "for half of Europe."
"Well, it is precisely such fish from those places, which is of exceptional quality, because the largest reservoir of drinking water in Europe is located there, that is our potential. And instead of preserving it, that is, using it in the right way, we leave it to the elements and illegal fishing", said Leković.
He finds evidence that all this is possible in, as he pointed out, the former state-owned factory "Ribarstvo", which began operating back in 1965 in Rijeka Crnojevića and was part of the famous Industrijeimport.
"This factory used to employ as many as 300 workers, and it sold its products even to the American and Italian markets. Imagine what it would mean for the municipality of Cetinje today if it could employ 300 workers? The annual production in this factory was as much as 10 million. To our market did quite a bit, but there is information that fish from the lake, i.e. carp, were also exported to America.
The factory in Rijeka Crnojevića produced not only canned bream and carp, but also blue fish. Canned carp whose quantities could satisfy the needs of the entire army of Yugoslavia at that time was sent to Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Belgrade.
"Ribarstvo" factory contributed significantly to Montenegrin production, and at the beginning of 2000 they produced as many as 11 tons of sardines per day," Leković points out.
And what do we have today, he asks, and answers that we have one incredible thing and the fact that, although it is a coastal country, Montenegro spends about 14 million euros annually for the import of fish and fish products. "That definitely has to change. I really expect that now that we have stabilized the political situation, now that we have finally moved forward, that we will achieve significant results in this area and restore everything that was missed and restore what was destroyed. We definitely have the potential for such a thing," he concluded. Lekovic.
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