Fish are continuously delivered to the shops from the fish ponds in Hortobágy

Károly Simon added that the winter fishing began in September, and by the beginning of December all the fish had been transferred to the winter pools. At the same time, this year’s extreme drought made the work difficult: since there was not enough precipitation, ten percent of the lakes with a water surface of 2,800 hectares could not be filled, and in the other lakes, instead of the ideal water height of 120 centimeters, they could only provide 80 centimeters. Simon Károly said that with careful work they managed to avoid a mass death of fish, but due to the extraordinary circumstances, they expect a 15-20 percent decrease compared to the 1,500 tons of fish produced in previous years. The work was made more difficult by the fact that feed prices doubled last year, he noted.

By the way, the Hortobágy fish farm is one of the largest carp-producing fisheries in Europe: 80 percent of the fish produced is carp, about 15 percent is carp and grass carp, the rest are predators: catfish, pike and perch – explained the CEO, indicating that 60 percent of the fish are processed in their own plant and are sold ready to cook, the rest are sold as live fish. Demand for the latter increased this year due to its more favorable price. Compared to last year, the price of fish has increased by 30-40 percent this year, he said.