The species distribution of Greek lagoon production is mainly concentrated on mullets and eels. Mullets represent, on the whole, almost 50% of total production while 30% is the average contribution of eels.
Table 7: Species distribution of Greek lagoons production
| Mullet | Sea Bream | Sea Bass | Eels | Sole | Caviar | Others | Shrimps | ||
| t. | 574.2 | 55.8 | 11.1 | 421.4 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 134.1 | 0.5 | |
| 1982 | |||||||||
| % | 47.7 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 35.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 11.2 | 0.0 | |
| t. | 537.6 | 72.3 | 8.9 | 303.8 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 177.2 | 0.2 | |
| 1983 | |||||||||
| % | 48.5 | 6.6 | 0.8 | 27.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 16.0 | 0.0 |
Mullets show a 6.3 reduction in total production but remain the most stable species caught. On the contrary, eels underwent a dramatic reduction of 117.7 tons i.e. - 28% from 1982 to 1983. This reduction in production has raised prices to levels where since a large part of eel production is exported, other producer countries can compete successively with Greek production. Nevertheless, at the moment, the price increase has determined a net benefit for greek fishermen.
Other positive aspects, in the whole Greek lagoon production, could be found in the increase of sea bream and sole production that have largely offset the light reduction registered by sea bass. In particular sea bream underwent a 30% increase while sole production increased form 3 to 5.6 tons i.e. an 85% positive variation.
The concentration of these high value species in few areas, is another aspect worth stressing. Sea breams for example are caught mainly in the Messolonghi and Amvrakikos lagoons. (49.2% and 41.2% respectively of total sea breams are caught in these lagoons). An even higher concentration for sole production has been found in the different lagoons: in 1983, 54.3% and in 1982, 76% of the total sole production was carried out by Amvrakikos fishermen.
The following table provides more information on species distribution in four lagoons (for detailed information regarding other lagoons refer to annex 2, 4 and 5.
TABLE 8: Species distribution in some Greek lagoons 1982–83. Quantities are expressed in kg - % is the percentage of correspondent value on total production.
| Mullet | Sea-bream | Sea-bass | Eels | Sole | Others | ||||||||
| KG | %V | KG | %V | KG | %V | KG | %V | KG | %V | KG | %V | ||
| Messolonghi | 1982 | 53 659 | 9.3 | 25149 | 45.1 | 1.641 | 14.8 | 78231 | 18.6 | 4.32 | 14.3 | 37.703 | 28.1 |
| 1983 | 46.182 | 8.6 | 35519 | 49.2 | 689 | 7.8 | 39162 | 12.9 | 4.84 | 8.6 | 28.182 | 16.0 | |
| Amvrakikos | 1982 | 200.333 | 34.9 | 10683 | 19.2 | 1529 | 13.8 | 186142 | 44.2 | 2 301 | 76.0 | 32.435 | 24.2 |
| 1983 | 192.723 | 35.9 | 29752 | 41.2 | 2 401 | 27.0 | 100275 | 33.0 | 3 050 | 54.3 | 49.308 | 27.8 | |
| Kavala | 1982 | 125.476 | 21.9 | 9.912 | 17.2 | 984 | 8.9 | 14064 | 3.3 | 198 | 6.5 | 6.016 | 4.5 |
| 1983 | 140.494 | 26.1 | 2.510 | 3.5 | 1.061 | 11.9 | 22257 | 7.3 | 829 | 14.8 | 4.721 | 8.3 | |
| Xanthi | 1982 | 39.140 | 6.8 | 1.726 | 3.1 | 51 | 0.5 | 50290 | 11.9 | 5 | 0.2 | 50.738 | 37.8 |
| 1983 | 64.104 | 11.9 | - | - | 500 | 5.6 | 74002 | 24.4 | 412 | 7.4 | 73.850 | 41.7 | |
Even if the total quantity of fish caught in the most important lagoon system Amvrakikos has undergone a reduction because of a dramatic decrease in eel production, local fishermen catch great quantities of mullets (40.4 %), sea bass (28.4%), eels (38.2%) sea bream catches have increased by 178.6%.
On the contrary, where total production has shown growth, as in Kavala and Xanti lagoons, it is due to higher catches of mullets and eels.
