Fish farming failures: Aquaculture stagnates across EU despite huge funding

16 Nov 2023 --- The EU aquaculture sector is failing even though it has netted more than €1.2 billion in EU funding, warns a report published by the European Court of Auditors. European aquaculture production is at a standstill, and the auditors have reason to believe that “too much EU money was put on the table,” with minimal results so far. 

These are some of the stark findings from the ECA report published yesterday (November 15). It details a flatlining of overall production and reveals aquaculture production has even decreased in Italy and France, two of the largest producers.

Aquaculture is the farming of fish, shellfish, algae and other aquatic organisms. It can occur in marine, brackish or inland waters and at land-based facilities equipped with water recirculation systems. 

The sustainable development of aquaculture (in environmental, economic and social terms) is one of the main objectives of the EU’s common fisheries policy.

Some years ago, it was hailed as an answer to food security, particularly regarding providing a sustainable source of protein with a lower carbon footprint. According to the report, it forms a key part of the EU’s Blue Economy strategy but is failing to deliver as expected. 

Regarding production systems, marine fisheries were generally more vulnerable to climate changes.“The EU has cast its nets wide for the aquaculture sector in recent years, as it is a major element of its Blue Economy strategy. But they remain disappointingly empty,” says Nikolaos Milionis, the ECA member who led the audit. 

What’s happened with funding?
The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund allocated €1.2 billion (US$1.3 billion) for the 2014-2020 period, and its successor, the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, lined up another €1 billion (US$1.08 billion) for 2021-2027).

The amount of funding allocated exclusively to aquaculture for the 2014-2020 period was more than three times the total spent in 2007-2013. 

The auditors note that neither the European Commission nor member states demonstrated the need for such a large increase.

And now, the audit reveals that a large part of the funding has not been used, although it doesn’t say how much. But this means that member states may be unable to spend all available funding by 2023, the deadline for expenditure to be considered eligible. 

“A side-effect here is that, in practice, EU countries financed almost all projects, irrespective of their expected contribution to the EU’s objectives for aquaculture, whereas a more targeted hook-and-line approach might have yielded a bigger catch,” says the report.

Despite the €1.2 billion made available for 2014-2020, the auditors warn the number of aquaculture businesses is declining, and employment in the sector fell from around 40,000 people to approximately 35,000 between 2014 and 2020.

Monitoring system weaknesses
Another revelation from the report is that the aquaculture sector’s environmental impact and the results of EU funds cannot yet be reliably measured. The auditors could not find a single set of indicators allowing them to assess the sector’s environmental sustainability despite this being one of the main objectives of EU policy. 

On top of this, the auditors say the data currently reported on the achievements of EU funds are neither “consistent nor reliable… with clearly overstated results, triple-counted values, and figures that fluctuate, depending on the reporting system selected.”

Therefore, the auditors could not determine the EU funds’ contribution to the aquaculture sector’s environmental and social sustainability or competitiveness.

By Gaynor Selby