Twenty adult, female African elephants weigh about 80 tonnes. The amount of fish Balaton Fish Management Non-Profit Ltd has stocked in Balaton over the course of the year is a tonne more: a total of 81 tonnes. The list of dates posted on their website shows that fish are plopped into the lake virtually every week: the last time was about a week ago when K3 carp and pike-perch were stocked in Balaton during the Nagyon Balaton event series. In September alone, 15 tonnes of fish were poured into the water, which is under a third of the 300 tonnes the company has agreed to plant in 2015.
At the 2nd Conference of Angling, held last week in Tihany, Minister of State for State-owned Land Márton Örs Bitay said “angling tourism in Hungary yields more profit from a national economy perspective” than fishing-related tourism, adding that putting an end to fishing has restored the trust of anglers in Balaton. According to an article published by sonline.hu, it was also announced at the event that an extra angling-related profit of 37 million HUF was registered in 2014.
None of the press outlets have reported on whether there was any talk at the conference of selling Balaton fish to local catering establishments. In line with the current regulations, fishing is prohibited and anglers are not allowed to sell their catch to fish grills and restaurants around the lake.
It’s still the ultimate goal to make sure that the Balaton fish brand does not include Uruguayan hake and Ukrainian bream. Balaton Fish Management Non-Profit Ltd CEO Zsolt Szári made a serious announcement: the former fishing plant in Keszthely will be transformed into an angling facility in the framework of a 300 million HUF investment – the project will be launched next year.
We popped down to Balatonföldvár to see the most recent fish planting operation, and we took some pictures to show you.
