Brussels, 11/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 11 May, the European Commission began consulting interested parties on the development of aquaculture in the EU. “The steady growth in the demand for fisheries products represents great potential for further development in the production of such products from aquaculture,” the Commission notes. It is seeking the opinions of interested parties for the implementation of a Community aquaculture strategy. The consultation exercise will run until 15 July (http://www.ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/governance/consultations/consultation_100507_en.htm ).
In Europe, aquaculture provides at least 80,000 jobs (2002-2003 figures). According to Eurostat, in 2004, the last year for which figures are available, the EU27 produced 1.382 million tonnes (2.3% of world aquaculture production), 756,000 tonnes of which were molluscs and shellfish (mussels, oysters and clams). The other main products are sea fish (salmon, seabass, seabream and tuna) and freshwater fish (rainbow trout, carp and river eel).
European mussel production has risen from 367,518 tonnes in 1993 (worth €210 million) to 589,952 tonnes in 2004 (worth €383 million). Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and France are the largest mussel producers. 130,199 tonnes of oysters (with a value of €295 million) were produced in the EU in 2004. France is the clear market leader. With regard to freshwater fish, Italy and France lead the way for trout, and it is the countries of Central Europe (the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Germany) which produce the most carp (72,000 tonnes in total in the EU in 2006). There are eel fattening farms particularly in the Netherlands, Denmark and Italy, and European production has stabilised at around 8,500 tonnes per year since 2002 (until 2001, it was around 11,000 tonnes).
With regard to seafish, the United Kingdom (more exactly the west of Scotland) and Ireland are the largest producers of farmed salmon. Scottish production is estimated at 128,000 tonnes in 2006 (15,000 tonnes from Ireland). Norway dominates the world market, producing 597,000 tonnes in 2006. Greece is the leading EU country for the farming of seabass and seabream (57% of total EU production in 2002). Bluefin tuna cages are to be found in Spain, Malta, Cyprus, Italy, Greece and Portugal. (lc)