| Policies for Aquaculture Development |
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Is there a European Policy for Aquaculture Development
The simple answer is yes…and no. The Common Fisheries Policy evidently focuses on fisheries but also includes aquaculture within its scope because the final products of aquaculture are in the same market as those of fisheries. One cannot escape the observation however, if one compares the two, that fishing is a hunting activity while aquaculture is one that is closer to farming. This difference explains, in part, the difficulties encountered in establishing a common European policy for the 2 activities, particularly since fisheries has a much deeper historical and cultural base and still provides the majority of European production (or landings).
This position is also reinforced by the differences in the legislation applied to the two sectors. Aquaculture, both freshwater and marine, sits across a wide range of legislation that includes laws covering agriculture, the environment, food safety and product supply and distribution, in addition to the usual laws concerning corporate management. This position makes it difficult, if not impossible, to have a specific and unique legislative framework for aquaculture.
The CFP has an important financial tool for assisting the restructuring and the development of fisheries and aquaculture, this being the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance - one of the four Structural Funds of the European Union. The application of the FIFG is intended to:
- Help the industry to respond to the challenge of global economic conditions
- Guarantee environmentally sustainable and economically viable exploitation of fisheries resources
- Preserve fishing in regions where there are few economic alternatives
- Provide European consumers with a wide range of quality fishery products.
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Since the FIFG functions on a co-financing principle - which must include a contribution from the Member State in question - it is essential that a Member State also encourages aquaculture development for this policy tool to be applied with effect.
Nonetheless, there is little evidence that the individual States of the EU have, to date, shared common ideas or policies on aquaculture development.
European aquaculture expanded within a plethora of legislation (more than 350 separate items following examination) to its current position, being supported primarily by actions encouraged under the CFP and the FIFG.
The Strategy for the Sustainable Development of European Aquaculture provided the first wide-ranging consideration of the contribution and the future of the sector in the European Union. When this is combined with the report and recommendations of the European Parliament's Fisheries Committee (no. 76), one can observe the emergence of both political and administrative support for the development of a coherent European policy for the sector, a position that is strongly welcomed by the professional sector.
It is anticipated that the Strategy will be refined and developed in order to provide clear institutional guidelines (e.g. actions allowed using the FIFG, simplified and consolidated legislation…) and, perhaps, national development policies within Member States. These would serve to provide clarity to the profession, the administration and the public as to what the role and contribution of aquaculture in Europe will be in the future.
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