Providing traditional Ukrainian sh products in Denmark

Mr Velykopolsky founded Fishmaster four years ago in an e ort to provide sh products that consumers might not nd elsewhere in Denmark. Most of his customers moved to Denmark from Ukraine, and Fishmaster tries to replicate access to the products they may have eaten at home. Mr Velykopolsky explained his belief that people feel more at home if they have access to their traditional foods. Herring, for example, is prepared with more sugar in Denmark than in Ukraine, so Fishmaster o ers whole, frozen herring that can be prepared in any traditional way. In addition to frozen herring, they o er salted whole sh and salted lets. ey salt, smoke, and marinate trout and other sh. All of the production, processing, and smoking is done in-house, by hand; they still need a pinbone-removing machine and won’t have a sh lleting machine until next year. ey have two cars with refrigerators and freezers, and they personally deliver their products throughout Denmark. e company is quite young, and it is still developing. is year 2023 is the rst year that Fishmaster has attended Seafood Expo Global, and Mr Velykopolskyy reports that even though it is expensive to be present, he has learned a lot from the event about the best methods for packaging and storage. Mr Velykopolskyy was very disappointed that they needed to increase

Pastravaria Busteni, Romania

Salmon trout raised in rivers and lakes in Romania

Pastravaria Busteni is a producer that is a part of the Agricola cooperative in Romania. is ccoperative is made up of ve Romanian aquaculture farmers who collaborate and help one another whenever possible or necessary. Bogdan Mihalache, the company sales manager, says that the company is building two new farms. e rst project, which is well under way, is the construction of a salmon trout farm in a nearby lake in the mountains. e other involves raising trout in the Black Sea, but Mr Mihalache explained that receiving government approval to get this project started has been somewhat of a roadblock. With the project in the mountains alone, the cooperative expects to grow annual production by 500 tonnes within three years.

e market for salmon trout is growing quickly as Romanians appreciate the taste of salmon trout because it has has less fat than salmon, explained Mr Mihalache. e sh will be grown in the lake to 2-3 kilos to cater to the market’s demand for llets. e company has been farming trout in rivers in the mountains for about three years. While it takes 2-3 years to grow sh in the rivers to market size, the sh in the lake will reach this size in about a year because the lake has higher oxygen levels. A variety of tests have ensured the sustainability, cleanliness, and safety of aquaculture in the lake. Since it is in the mountains, temperatures will never get too warm for the sh.

e company is committed to ensuring the water is not polluted; their studies show that sh will consume

Igor Velykopolsky, Founder, Fishmaster, Denmark their prices because of market changes, particularly that of trout caviar one of their main products, the price of which uctuates from year to year. He says that for people who just moved from Ukraine and are unable to buy the sh at retail price, he o ers discounts.

Fishmaster currently only sells to private customers, making deliveries to them twice monthly. He is not as busy as he would wish and is hoping to expand. But he wants to ensure that the company continues to provide the best products in terms of quality, taste, and packaging.

Bogdan Mihalache, Sales Manager, Pastravaria Busteni any excess feed on the bottom of the lake. e eggs come from di erent hatcheries within the cooperative, and Mr Mihalache speci ed that they will separate the di erent eggs into cages, so they can monitor which sh are healthiest and grow the fastest. Two processing factories already exist in the cooperative and a new factory is planned. e main products are fresh and smoked sh, but a few valueadded products with vegetables, trufes, and other ingredients are also produced. e sh is sold primarily on the Romanian markets and Mr Mihalache expects that to continue for the foreseeable future.

Nora Goodman, Euro sh, nora@euro sh.dk