Romania

Type of species farmed

Common carp (Ciprinus carpio), bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), silver carp (H. molitrix), trout (different species), goldfish (Carassius auratus), sturgeon (different species).

^{Source: 2025, STECF}

Type of production method

According to Eurostat, the aquaculture activity in Romania is limited to freshwater farming. Production consists in its entirety in ponds (2026, EUMOFA). 

In the case of carp is polyculture (in extensive production). In 2022, trout production represented 28% of total aquaculture quantities, following by 27% of common carp and 20% of bighead carp (2025, STECF).

^{Source: 2026, National Statistics; STECF; 2025, EUMOFA}

Trends (past and future)

• Recently, extensive fish farms have become multifunctional, providing services such as ecological tourism, recreational fishing, and educational activities related to knowledge about and protection of aquatic biodiversity. There is a trend to diversify and increase the current range of aquaculture activities. 
• The sector has not expanded either the number and diversity of species or the range of production methods. For example, farmers still largely rely on extensive farming practices and have limited adoption of new technologies. As a result, innovation remains minimal, and greater efforts are needed to address this gap.

^{Source: 2026, EuroFish; 2025, STECF}

Impact of aquaculture in the country’s economy, food market and labour market 

• The market in Romania is still dominated by large supermarket chains, which are mainly accessible to big farms. Small producers face difficulties due to competition from imports and the lack of consistent purchases by the processing industry. Although there are attempts to diversify, the production of species such as sturgeon and catfish remains limited. 
• The growth in aquaculture production can be attributed to the expanded production of common carp in polyculture, extensively or semi-intensively. 
• The production of species new to Romanian aquaculture, such as sturgeon, is still low. 
• Salmonicultura is the sector constantly growing. At present, the salmonicole establishments in Romania have as their main objects the following species: rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), brown trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and indigenous trout (Salmo trutta fario). 
• Marine aquaculture has a relatively recent development in the Black Sea and particularly on the Romanian coast. 
• From the point of view of distribution by development region, in 2019 it is noted that the largest share of production achieved is represented by the North-East development region with 29 % of the total national production, followed by the development regions of South, South-East, North-West and Centre with a share of between 9 and 21 %. The very small share of production in the South-West and Bucharest-Ilfov regions is due to most of the fishing facilities are mainly recreational farmers. 
• The consumption of fisheries and aquaculture products is far below the EU average. Romanian’s household consumption is dominated by live/fresh fish, followed by frozen fish, and marinated and prepared products. The top four preferred species are trout, carp, mackerel, and salmon.

^{Source: 2025, STECF; MNSPA}

Challenges and opportunities

^{Source: MNSPA}

Employment and number of enterprises

In 2022, 463 aquaculture enterprises and 1,956 employees, only freshwater aquaculture units. No marine aquaculture farms were reported for 2022.

^{Source: 2025, STECF}

• Law No. 192 “On living aquatic resources, fisheries and aquaculture”
• Government Emergency Order No 23/2008 on fisheries and aquaculture (as completed and amended by Law No 317/2009)
• ORDER no. 332 / 2008 regarding the registration of aquaculture production units in the Register of aquaculture units and the issuance of the aquaculture license 

• Aquaculture licence
• Register of aquaculture establishments 

Sources

• EUMOFA Country Profiles
• EUMOFA “The EU Fish Market” 2025 edition
• EUROFISH Member Countries 
• National Statistics 
• STECF 24-14 - EU Aquaculture