Fish-Breeding Kurdany Haifa Bay

Image from the book: Jewish Palestine: A Celebration of the Yishuv

It would seem that the first attempt to breed carp in the Yishuv was undertaken in 1926 by a student at the Mikveh Israel agricultural training facility called Mordechai Schwartz. Yet the authorities banned any further experimentation, fearing that the requisite additional ponds would attract mosquitoes and contribute to the spread of malaria. It fell to Branco Zitzer, a Yugoslavian Jew who made aliyah in 1932, to demonstrate the viability of carp breeding in the Yishuv. Having identified the springs at Ein Afek (Kurdani) as the most suitable site, he leased land from the Jewish National Fund and, having prepared the site, proceeded to import male carp from Yugoslavia and, once they had acclimatized, female carp from Hungary. On its own terms, the operation was a commercial success, yet after only two years excessive debt and the outbreak of the Arab Revolt in 1936 forced the business to close down again. Even so, the viability of carp breeding as a profitable activity was now no longer in doubt.

Photo: L. A. Robitschek. Published and printed by TMUNA Jerusalem P. O. B. 221. Printed in Palestine.