From 14 to 17 September 2026, I took part in a business trip to Georgia. As part of its development aid programme, the Czech Embassy in Tbilisi organised a workshop entitled ‘Modern Fisheries and Aquaculture: Challenges, Innovations and Opportunities for Development in Georgia – Innovations in Aquaculture’. At the event, I delivered two presentations entitled ‘The Current State of Fisheries and Aquaculture in the Czech Republic and its Main Challenges’, in which I introduced the current state of Czech fisheries to an audience of around thirty participants. In a follow-up presentation entitled ‘New Opportunities for the Development and Intensification of Existing Production Systems’, I highlighted the latest technologies and innovations used in Central Europe to increase, or rather maintain, current levels of fish production despite the decline in the amount of water available in our landscape. The workshop also featured a presentation by Gryf, s.r.o. from Hlavičkův Brod, which highlighted the hidden risks and costs associated with modern intensive aquaculture systems. A total of six presentations were presented by five speakers. As part of the trip, we also visited Ilia State University in Tbilisi, where several courses on fisheries and fish farming are teaching. We toured their facilities and discussed opportunities for cooperation. They expressed great interest in exchange programmes for students and academic staff. We also managed to visit several fish farmers, including Georgia’s largest caviar producer. The company PAN CAVIAR expressed great interest in the possibility of sending several young people to study fisheries in the Czech Republic, as Georgia lacks adequate educational facilities. Georgia is very rich in water resources and the development of aquaculture has great potential.
