While most tourists visiting Romania’s Danube Delta expect to eat freshly caught fish, local guesthouses and restaurants serve them fish bought from the supermarket or from neighboring Bulgaria.

This happens because local fishermen are allowed to sell the fish they catch only to fish collection centers (cherhana in Romanian). From there, the fish usually gets to other intermediaries, and then ends up in supermarkets, a Danube Delta fisherman told local Adevarul. Local guesthouse and restaurant owners have no choice but to buy the fish from the supermarket, at much higher prices. Tourists who visit the Danube Delta thus end up paying similar prices for fish dishes that they would pay in any other region in the country.

“The fish is taken from the supermarket because this is the only possibility for the guesthouses to have documents on this fish,” Danube Delta governor Malin Musetescu said.

Sometimes restaurant owners manage to buy the fish they need directly from the collection centers, but these centers usually prefer to sell the fish wholesale, not per kilogram. Moreover, in some cases, tourists in the Danube Delta also eat fish brought from Bulgaria, as the neighboring country sells it at lower prices than local collection centers.

A tourist visiting the Danube Delta can eat freshly caught fish only if the restaurant buys it directly from the fisherman, illegally. “The chance to eat a fresh fish, in the true sense of the word, is only if the fish comes from the local black market,” Musetescu explained.

Local fish markets would be a solution to this situation, and the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority (ARBDD) is currently working on a draft project providing that authorized fishermen can sell a limited amount of fish in specially arranged places, Adevarul reported. This would make it possible for both guesthouses and tourists to buy fresh fish legally.

newsroom@romania-insider.com

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