Work due 01 Jan 2008

The next step is to determine the relative environmental pressure (pressure per unit production) exerted by each production system and culture species, in order to generate a more accurate indication of pressure. Factors to consider include the rate of nutrient and chemical discharge, the number of escapes, and the incidence of disease per unit production. For finfish, the food conversion ratio (food given/fish production) coupled with information on food composition would provide an effective indicator of nutrient discharge. Modest improvements in national statistics could generate this information This data should be collected routinely and published by all major producing countries to provide time series data which could be incorporated within the EU and FAO databases.