Brussels, 31/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - The committee on fisheries of the European Parliament held a public hearing on Thursday 27 March, on the future of the European aquaculture (fish and shellfish farming) industry. Some of those taking part stressed the fact that the prospects for the growth of aquaculture in Europe are good, given the fact that fishing alone is insufficient to fulfil continually growing consumer demand for fisheries products. However, many of those who took the floor said that European production of aquaculture products is starting to stagnate, due to uncontrolled competition from Asian countries and problems in certain regions in finding new sites to set up aquaculture businesses.
In the EU, the aquaculture sector currently produces around 1.3 million tonnes of products worth a total in the region of €3 billion. This equates to around one-third of the total value of the Community fisheries sector production and one-fifth in terms of product tonnage. Aquaculture employs more than 80,000 people on a full-time basis.
Lara Barazi-Yeroulanou of the Greek Mariculture Federation, explained that between now and 2030, aquaculture worldwide will produce 85 million tonnes of fisheries products every year to satisfy demand. “This is an industry which the EU cannot ignore”, she said, adding that the potential in European production was still broadly unexploited: EU production stands at around 1.5 million tonnes, compared to 48 million tonnes of production worldwide. She stressed the importance of launching an information campaign on: - the benefits to health of consuming aquaculture products; - the safety of products, thanks to very strict sanitary rules; - respect of the environment. Ms Barazi also called for reform of the Common Market Organisation (CMA) for fishery and aquaculture products with the following suggestions: - drawing a distinction between fishing and aquaculture (the production structures are highly different); - providing appropriate intervention mechanisms (reference prices for each species); - achieving a strict and uniform implementation of labelling rules; - encouraging the creation of inter-professional alliances. “European aquaculture can survive, but it cannot grow”, lamented Ms Barazi.
Elena Mente, of the University of Thessaloniki, pointed out that Greece is Europe's largest producer of farmed bass and bream, with 100,000 tons in 2006, and that Italy is the main market for both of these species. She also spoke of the “extremely good prospects” for organic aquaculture, which is still in its infancy.
Julie Dinimant, personal assistant to the director of the French national shellfish farming committee, stated that European production of shellfish represents more than 50% of the tonnage achieved by the aquaculture sector as a whole. France produces 90% of all oysters within the EU (nearly 130,000 out of 142,000 tonnes, far ahead of Spain in second place). With mussels, on the other hand, Spain is a long way ahead (295,000 tonnes), beating Denmark and the Netherlands. Ms Dinimant vaunted some of the merits of shellfish farming, an activity which is “extensive, open to the elements and without any impact on its environment”. Furthermore, this sector is a friend to the ecosystems (by removing carbon and effectively creating a nitrogen well). The prerequisites for the development of shellfish farming are: - the protection of shellfish waters (however, the framework-directive 2000/60/EC on water provides for the abrogation of directive 91/492/EEC on the quality of shellfish-farming waters in 2013, which is of great concern to the speaker and the sector in general); - access to sites (potential conflicts with competing activities, such as urbanisation and tourism, must be managed); - the promotion of the products and European knowledge and skills.
Javier Ojeda of Spain, director of APROMAR (the Spanish Association of Marine Fish Farmers) presented the latest technology in the field of aquaculture, which has increased understanding of interactions with the environment, made it possible to handle fish better and to improve the assessment of the nutritional qualities of the products. Alistair Lane, the Director-General of the European Aquaculture Society, noted that many consumers are unaware of the origin of the fish which they eat. He recommended the creation of a European platform for consumers and referred to the code of conduct of aquaculture producers in the EU.
“We in Europe know how to produce farmed fish and shellfish. However, the European Community imports almost 50% of its seafood requirements”, said Richie Flynn, executive secretary of the Irish Farmers' Association Aquaculture section. Aquaculture, for example in Asia and South America, is the fastest-growing food sector there is. However, fish-farming production in the EU is tending to stagnate and even to fall in certain segments of the industry, said Mr Flynn.
“There is no alternative other than to increase aquaculture production in order to satisfy demand for fish by the European consumer (…) and the European market is the number-one outlet for the fish and shellfish markets of the whole world”, said the representative of the European Commission. The Commission plans to adopt the communication in November, on a revised strategy for the development of European aquaculture. (L.C.)