“Lake Balaton plays a special role in fishing tourism in our country: on a yearly basis, 70-80 thousand anglers purchase tickets at the “Hungarian sea”. Supporting events that promote sport fishing and fish consumption are highly important tasks of the Government”, State Secretary for Land Administration (Ministry of Agriculture) said in Tihany at the Day of Balaton Fishermen event.
Márton Bitay promised the further promotion of fishing and further investments to support tourism, as well at the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Union of Balaton Anglers’ Associations. As he recalled, Hungarian fish and within that Balaton fish, has not been properly acknowledged in Hungary for decades. The Government changed that unworthy state of affairs in 2010 and has provided all possible help since then to enable domestic fishing and fishing tourism to prosper and consumer confidence towards Hungarian fish products to grow.
Putting an end to commercial and large-scale fishing has meant a significant step forward in the development of fishing tourism, and it was also favourable from an economic perspective; the majority of our fishing waters are now under fishing management, in addition to which the Government reduced the VAT on fish for consumption from 27 to just 5 percent.
Today, Lake Balaton is the host of major international competitions and the Hungarian National Angling Association (MOHOSZ) and its member organisations have been strengthened (no other Hungarian association has as many members as MOHOSZ), the State Secretary said, listing the positive changes of recent years. As he explained, over the course of a few years the number of registered anglers has increased by more than 100 thousand to a total of over 450 thousand. MOHOSZ, which consists of 28 regional unions, 1,200 fishing associations and 13 entrepreneurial members with special legal status, including Balaton Fish Management Non-profit Cls. which utilises Lake Balaton, has become the largest NGO in Hungary.