The 2018 Economic Report on Aquaculture, published on Thursday 3 January by the European Commission, shows a growing sector with increasingly stable employment.
In 2016, the EU Aquaculture Sector produced and sold 1.4 million tonnes of seafood products, worth almost €5 billion. The sector's profits doubled between 2014 and 2016.
Production in the EU aquaculture sector increased by 2.2% per year between 2014 and 2016 in volume and by 3.1% in value. Profit almost doubled over the same period, reaching €0.8 billion in 2016. The year 2013 had been a bad one in most of the major aquaculture countries of the EU.
The report shows that there are about 12,500 aquaculture enterprises in the EU, mainly micro enterprises employing less than 10 people. Employment has remained stable in terms of the number of employees (73,000) and has increased considerably in terms of full-time equivalents: from 36,000 in 2013 to nearly 44,000 in 2016. This means that aquaculture companies offer more stable employment opportunities. "This positive trend is expected to continue", according to the Commission.
Differences between countries and sectors. The EU aquaculture sector has three sub-sectors: marine production, shellfish and freshwater production.
With a turnover of €2.731 billion, marine aquaculture makes the most profits, ahead of shellfish production (€1.134 billion) and freshwater (€1.028 billion).
The main species produced, in terms of value, are Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout and European seabass.
EU production is dominated by five countries: the United Kingdom, France, Greece, Italy and Spain. These countries, with a turnover of between €550 million and €1,100 million, represent 75% of the total production volume.
The United Kingdom is the main producer of salmon (91% of the total value), while Greece is the main producer of sea bream and seabass (47%).
In the shellfish sector, France produces 86% of oysters and Spain is the leading producer of mussels (45% of the volume).
Italy is the main producer of clams (80%).
By far the most frequently cultivated freshwater species is trout. Italy (19%), Denmark (17%) and France (14%) are the main producers. Carp is another important species, especially in Poland (24%), the Czech Republic (23%) and Hungary (14%).
The average annual salary in 2016 was €25,000 per year, which corresponds to an annual increase of 3.5% since 2014. However, nominal wages vary from less than €3,000 per year in Bulgaria to around €65,000 per year in the Netherlands or Denmark.
To view the report: https://bit.ly/2AslleA. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)