All official European Union website addresses are in the europa.eu domain.
See all EU institutions and bodiesDo something for our planet, print this page only if needed. Even a small action can make an enormous difference when millions of people do it!
Indicator Assessment
Annual aquaculture production by major area
A significant increase in total European aquaculture production has been observed in the past 10 years. In general, significant improvements in the efficiency of feed and nutrient utilisation as well as environmental management have served to partially mitigate the associated increase in environmental pressure. The increase in both production and pressure on the environment has not been uniform across countries or production systems.Only the mariculture sector has experienced a significant increase, while brackish water production has increased at a much slower rate and the levels of freshwater production have declined. On a regional level, EU 10 + EFTA countries dominate production by far.
Europe's fish farms fall into two distinct groups: the fish farms in western Europe grow high-value species such as salmon and rainbow trout, frequently for export, whereas lower-value species such as carp are cultivated in central and eastern Europe, mainly for local consumption.
The observed growth in production has not come without problems. According to DG Fisheries ''the European Aquaculture industry is facing a number of challenges in terms of market and of the environment. Its future will depend on its ability to become economically self-sufficient and its capacity to respond to environmental constraints''.
Production by country
The biggest European aquaculture producers are found in the EU 10 + EFTA region. Norway has the highest production with more than 500 thousand tonnes in 2001, followed by Spain, France, Italy and the UK. These 5 countries account for 75.5 % of all aquaculture production in 34 European countries. Even the smallest of these, the UK, produced 170 thousand tonnes in 2001, which is significantly higher than production in any European country outside of this region. Turkey's production of 67 thousand tonnes represents substantially the highest production in the EU 10 + AC + Balkan region.The country ranking in 2001 in terms of production was very similar to that in 2000.
It is noteworthy that in 2001, farming of Atlantic salmon in Norway (being about 90 % of Norway's total production) exceeded the combined total of all production species from EU 10 + AC + Balkan countries. Spain is the next biggest producer with production dominated by blue mussel, followed by France, with production dominated by the Pacific cupped oyster (Crassostrea gigas). Turkish production consists mainly of trout, sea bream and sea bass.
Production by major commercial species groups
The major part of the increase in aquaculture production has been in marine salmon culture in northwest Europe, and to a lesser extent trout culture (throughout western Europe and Turkey), seabass and seabream cage culture (mainly Greece and Turkey), and mussel and clam cultivation (throughout western Europe), which however exhibits a downward trend since 1999. In contrast, inland aquaculture of carp (mainly common and silver carp) has declined significantly throughout eastern and central Europe (EU 10 + AC + Balkan countries) due partly to political and economic changes in eastern Europe. As in the case of production per country, no significant changes have been observed in production by major species since the last assessment (2000).
Different types of aquaculture generate very different pressures on the environment, the main ones being discharges of nutrients, antibiotics and fungicides. The main environmental pressures are associated with intensive finfish production, mainly salmonids in marine, brackish and freshwaters, and seabass and seabream in the marine environment, sectors which have experienced the highest growth rate in recent years. The pressures associated with the cultivation of bivalve molluscs, which include removal of plankton and local concentration and accumulation of organic matter and metabolites, are generally considered to be less severe than those from intensive finfish cultivation. Pond aquaculture of carp in inland waters usually requires less intensive feeding, and in most cases a greater proportion of the nutrients discharged are assimilated locally. Environmental pressure per unit production is likely to be less than for the more intensive salmonid production. Furthermore, this type of aquaculture has decreased in recent years.
Chemicals, particularly formalin and malachite green, are used in freshwater farms to control fungal and bacterial diseases. In marine farms, antibiotics are used for disease control but the amounts used have been reduced drastically in recent years following the introduction of vaccines. In general, significant improvements in the efficiency of feed and nutrient utilisation as well as environmental management have served to partially mitigate the associated increase in environmental pressure.
Production relative to coastline length
The environmental pressures exerted by aquaculture are not uniform. The level of local impact will vary according to production scale and techniques as well as the hydrodynamics and chemical characteristics of the region. Of the EU 15 countries,
Aquaculture production intensity as measured per unit coastline length has reached an average of around 8 tonnes per km of coastline in EU 10 + EFTA countries compared with 2 tonnes per km in the EU 10 + AC + Balkan region. The pressure is likely to continue to increase as the production of new species such as cod, halibut and turbot becomes more reliable.
By presenting production relative to coastline length, it is possible to determine a more comparable value of production density. This is potentially a better indicator of pressure than a single production value, but there are difficulties with this indicator. It is inappropriate for landlocked countries; it does not apply to freshwater production; it does not consider the area of coastline that is potentially suitable for production; and the determination of coastline length is problematic and relies upon uniform scale being used for each country's determination.
An alternative indicator could be based on the percentage coverage of key coastal habitat types by different types of aquaculture.
Contribution of nutrients from aquaculture to total coastal nutrients loads
Marine finfish aquaculture (mainly Atlantic salmon) is making a significant contribution to nutrient loads in coastal waters, particularly in the case of countries with relatively small total nutrient discharges to coastal waters. For example in
In general, the pressure from nutrients from the intensive cultivation of marine and brackish water is becoming significant in the context of total nutrient loadings to coastal environments. However the published data on total nutrient loadings to coastal waters remains poor in quality and inconsistent in coverage; the conclusions should therefore be treated with caution.
The indicator quantifies the development of European aquaculture production by major sea area and country as well as the contribution of aquaculture discharges of nutrients relative to the total discharges of nutrients into coastal zones.
Production is measured in thousand tonnes, while marine aquaculture production relative to coastline length is given in tonnes/km.
Until recently there was no general policy for European aquaculture, although the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (85/337/EEC & amendment 97/11/EEC) requires specific farms to undergo EIAs and the Water Framework Directive requires all farms to meet environmental objectives for good ecological and chemical status of surface waters by 2015. There are few national policies specifically addressing the diffuse and cumulative impacts of aquaculture as a whole on aquatic systems, or the need to limit total production in line with the assimilative capacity of the environment. However, limits on feed inputs in some countries (such as Finland) effectively limit production.
The new Reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) aims to improve the management of aquaculture. In September 2002, the Commission presented to the Council and to the European Parliament a communication on "A strategy for the sustainable development of European aquaculture". The main aim of the strategy is the maintenance of competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of the European aquaculture sector.
The strategy has 3 main objectives:
-Creating secure employment
-Providing safe and good quality fisheries products and promoting animal health and welfare standards.
-Ensuring an environmentally sound industry.
No targets are currently available. The Water Framework Directive requires waters around farms to meet environmental objectives for good ecological and chemical status of surface waters by 2015.
National data for the 34 European states was manipulated first into country groupings, then into production system groupings and finally into main species and country listings. All production calculations were performed in the Fishstat Plus programme rather in the Excel spreadsheets in order to take into account production < 0.5 t otherwise omitted when transferred into Excel spreadsheets.
Total marine aquaculture per km coastline = total aquaculture production in marine areas (as defined by FAO Fishstat Plus) by country minus coastline length of the country (km) Major area production per km coastline = (Sum of total aquaculture production in marine areas (as defined by FAO Fishstat Plus) by major area) minus (Sum of all coastline lengths of countries in that area (km))
Aquaculture discharge of N (tonnes) = total finfish aquaculture production in marine & brackish water areas (tonnes) x 5.5%
Aquaculture discharge of P (tonnes) = total finfish aquaculture production in marine & brackish water areas (tonnes) x 0.75%
Relative contribution of aquaculture N production to marine nutrient loads = Aquaculture discharge of N (tonnes) / total discharge of N (tonnes) x 100
Relative contribution of aquaculture P production to marine nutrient loads = Aquaculture discharge of P (tonnes) / total discharge of P (tonnes) x 100
No methodology for gap filling has been specified. Probably this info has been added together with indicator calculation.
No uncertainty has been specified
No uncertainty has been specified
The weakness of the indicator relates to the validity of the relationship between production and pressure. Production acts as a useful, coarse indicator of pressure but variations in culture species, production systems and management approaches mean that the relationship between production and pressure is non-uniform.
By presenting production relative to coastline length, it is possible to determine a more comparable value of production density. This is potentially a better indicator of pressure than a single production value, but there are difficulties with this indicator. It is inappropriate for landlocked countries; it does not apply to freshwater production; it does not consider the area of coastline that is potentially suitable for production; and the determination of coastline length is problematic and relies upon uniform scale being used for each country's determination.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/aquaculture-production-1/aquaculture-production-assessment-published-nov-2005 or scan the QR code.
PDF generated on 25 Apr 2024, 01:26 PM
Engineered by: EEA Web Team
Software updated on 26 September 2023 08:13 from version 23.8.18
Software version: EEA Plone KGS 23.9.14
Document Actions
Share with others