Fish farms made €6.6 million in 2016, almost half what they earned in 2015 despite a 21.9% increased in output.
This was due to a 30.6% increase in costs due to increases in overheads, selling costs, variable production costs, and in purchases of live tuna and other fish.
The National Statistics Office said on Wednesay that €144.9 million of fish were sold, of which €133 million were tuna.
In 2016, the volume of fresh fish sold amounted to 12,466 tonnes, an increase of 15.4% over the preceding year. This was due to increases in the sales of seabass and tuna of 43.7% and 25.5%, respectively. On the other hand, sales of other fish and seabream decreased by 73% and 5% respectively.