The company Maricultura Georgia, which has been producing mussels and oysters since 2017 in Kvariati, in an aqua farm, is unable to protect its products. The fact is that the cases of product theft from the farm have increased.
As Mamuka Mikashavidze, the founder of Maricultura Georgia told BM.GE, the problem is in the legislation, because there is no legal base that ensures the protection of products in water, and as a result, the industry with great potential cannot develop in Georgia.
According to his explanation, this year the market was supplied with only 4 tons of mussels and oysters, while they expected a harvest of 20 tons, but the product could not be protected.
Mamuka Mikashavaidze also notes that in order to develop the industry, a number of investments were made, including the construction of a factory with shock freezing refrigerators in Tbilisi, although there is no control over the product at the sea.
"They steal our crops from the farm, and we don't even have a legal basis to protect our products. There is no legislation to respond to this, we have suffered serious losses, for example, $240,000 worth of underwater equipment was stolen, as well as 2,000 pieces of rope with at least 30 kilograms of mussels each. That is why There is also a great demand for export, although we cannot satisfy the quantities.
We want to create industrial production in this direction in Georgia, the country really has the potential for this. We are doing everything for this, including building a new shock freezing plant, where mussels are processed and frozen, but support is important in order to be able to protect our harvest. We did everything necessary on land, we made new investments, but we can't do anything in the sea because we don't have control," says the founder of Maricultura Georgia.
