National campaign to promote fish and fishing launched

Izola – The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food has launched a national campaign to promote local fisheries in a bid to raise awareness among consumers about the positive aspects of fish and mussel as food and about local fisheries traditions and heritage.

The campaign was presented by Minister Jože Podgoršek at the sea town Izola as part of the government’s visit to the coastal region and will run until summer 2023.

He said the advantage of local fisheries was a transparent origin and quality, a clean environment and shorter transport routes, which was key to sea foods’ freshness.

An important aspect of the campaign is also the preservation of fishing tradition and heritage as an important part of national identity and cultural heritage.

“With the campaign we want to ensure that local fisheries have a reputation they deserve and to raise the value of fish products,” he said.

The campaign will run under the slogan Tastiest Stories from Our Waters, to show that there is a large range of local fish and mussels of high quality available around the entire country.

With the help of fishers, fish and mussel farmers and fish-processing companies, the campaign will run via all major communication channels.

The website nasasuperhrana.si/ribe will also offer a map where sea foods can be purchased, said Jernej Švab, the head of the ministry’s fisheries sector.

The campaign is to cost just over half a million euro, with 75% coming from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the rest from the national budget.

The ministry’s data shows that after almost a decade-long downward trend, the fish catch from the Slovenian sea was again better, at around 150 tonnes.

However, this year the numbers are again lower, so Švab expects them to reach the pre-2020 levels, that is between 100 and 120 tonnes.

The number of fish and mussel growers has meanwhile been dropping ever since the country gained independence, for various reasons.

Slovenia advocates measures to preserve coastal fishing and allocates funds for it. “Let’s hope we manage to stop the downward with these measures,” said the minister.

The latest campaign comes after similar campaigns promoting fruit, milk and meat as part of the national project Our Super Food.

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