Political and Socio-Economic Aspects of Fisheries in Inland and Coastal Waters of the Western Balkan

Abstract

In the last decades in Europe, especially in the Balkan region, modernization of agriculture gave priority to economic growth without consideration of the environmental impact and sustainable development. Fisheries have traditional and essential importance of food and income in the Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Albania (Western Balkans). The fisheries sector in Western Balkans is still not organized according to requirements of ecosystem integrity and sustainable utility. Practical application of the legislation indicates that the fishery has been developed without adequate harmonization with socio-economic characteristics, enforcement resources, and adequate control measures. Policymakers continue to be reluctant to give importance to the fishery sector, when allocating fishery resources among multifunctional users of water resources. In the following text, we gave review of the fisheries policy and socio-economic aspects of fishery sector in the Western Balkan countries. Critical fisheries policy and management measures are discussed and the propositions and recommendations of environmental sustainability measures under modern anthropogenic pressures are presented.