The European Commission is calling on all EU countries to embrace aquaculture as a recovering industry and a valuable source of healthy food. At #FARMEDintheEU Regions, a conference organised by the
European Commission and the Committee of the Regions, Karmenu Vella,
European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries,
stressed the need for even greater buy-in. "We need to plan ahead
now to provide more fish, shellfish and algae in a sustainable,
responsible way," Commissioner Vella said. "Of course, we must
continue our work on sustainable wild fisheries, but if we are to get
more seafood, it has to come from farming. Having many small,
well-planned farming actions at regional scale, and helping consumers to
make informed, responsible choices is the key to success." Recovering industry After
more than a decade of stagnation, the Commission said that EU
aquaculture is finally showing signs of recovery achieving a 4% growth
in volume and 8% in value between 2014 and 2015 with profits exceeding
€400 million. It said that this success is in part due to strong
cooperation between the Commission and national authorities to remove
barriers to growth, including cutting red tape for governments. The
conference saw the Commission unveil a series of new guidelines on the
accommodation of aquaculture within the EU environmental rules, as well
as information on planning and business authorisation. The
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund provides €1.2 billion exclusively
for aquaculture. This money is there to help farms invest, grow, become
more innovative and efficient and also to help attract more private
investment. The aim is to see a 25% growth in aquaculture by 2020 across
Member States. 
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