The Commissioner of Fisheries of the European Union (EU), Maria Damanaki, ensures the EU executive will priorise aquaculture in its future budgets to leverage the growth of this sector with great prospects to create jobs.

“We need to boost the sector so as to be able to create new jobs and, at the same time, to have a good production for our children,” Damanaki said in a press conference offered at the end of the international conference “European Aquaculture: A Growth Path” held in A Coruña, Galicia.

Aquaculture bills more than EUR 100 billion annually, and the Regional Office of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO) predicts that in the coming years the demand for fish will increase by 65 per cent.

But in this context, European aquaculture production is still incipient and barely reaches 1.2 million tonnes, reportes EFE agency.

According to Damanaki, the EU’s objective is to harness the potential of the sector to ensure food supplies and create new jobs.

Therefore, the negotiation of the multi-annual financial framework will improve funding for fish farming.

“The idea that three kilos of wild fish are needed to produce one of aquaculture is false -stressed the European Commissioner. Years ago the quality of European aquaculture products were also distrusted and now it is doubtless that they are the best.”

Besides, referring to the alleged negative effects of aquaculture, she said that it is necessary “to try to change that bad image and to show that it does not suit reality,” La Opinión reported.

“We have the technology, the best aquaculture in the world with sustainable products, but we have stalled. We must find solutions,” she said.

To the Commissioner of Fisheries, some national and local administrations are to blame for the aquaculture stagnation status.

“Sometimes, licensing – to set up new facilities — is not welcomed in certain regions, so it is not easy for the authorities to grant new permits. Therefore, sometimes governments themselves use the complicated bureaucracy and the legal uncertainty as an excuse,” she pointed out.

With regard to the control of aquaculture imports, she said the EU commits to increasing the inspections and to requiring the fish from third countries meets the same health-hygiene and quality requirements as that produced locally.

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