Eurofish celebrated its tenth birthday on 26 September 2006. What started as a Danish-funded FAO project in 1996 at the UN centre in Copenhagen, has today metamorphosed into a fully-fledged international organization governed presently by eleven member countries.

The original idea, mooted by Jochen Nierentz (FAO GLOBEFISH) and Steve Karnicki at the FAO and Henrik Kroell from the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries in 1995, was to establish a regional project for CEE. This was to be based on the concept of the other FAO projects that today form the FISHINFONetwork: INFOFISH (Malaysia), INFOPESCA (Uruguay), INFOPECHE (Cote d’Ivoire), and INFOSAMAK (Morocco).

In 1996 all 18 Eastfish member countries, with the exception of the donor Denmark, were from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Each member nominated a National Liaison Officer (NLO), who was the central contact point for Eastfish in the country. Typically the NLO was from the national Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The aim of the project was to assist in the reconstruction and development of the fisheries sector in those countries in transition by encouraging investments, providing information on markets, trade, catches and prices, by training, by offering technical and financial advice, and by promoting co-operation and joint ventures.

From the outset Eastfish also established a close relationship to the evolving private sector in the region, trying to cover their development needs and taking up the role as a matchmaker for joint ventures. The close cooperation with the Fish Publishing House in Hamburg allowed the creation of the respected EUROFISH Magazine, which for the first 5 years was published in English and Russian, fully financed by advertisements. In addition a series of commodity conferences promoted the activities of the fisheries sector.

With the fifth member country signing the EUROFISH agreement, the international organization came into force on 12 October 2001. During those five years Eastfish had established a solid network in Central and Eastern Europe. Changing at this occasion its name to EUROFISH took account of the strong interest of Western European countries in the fisheries sector in Central and Eastern Europe and their will for a partnership between east and west in the European fisheries sector.

It is ten years since the start of the original FAO EASTFISH project during which time the organization has grown and overcome all obstacles. New activities and initiatives are regularly developed and implemented. Working closely together with its member countries, a wide spectrum of fisheries-related institutions, and with FAO GLOBEFISH, over the next years Eurofish International Organisation will focus on promoting investment in the fisheries sector in Central and Eastern Europe and will also place more emphasis on its activities in the fields of training and aquaculture.