The Government of Greece, assisted by the United Nations Development Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, is engaged in the project Development of Marine and Inland Aquaculture in Greece (FI:DP/GRE/85/002) whose main objectives are the preparation of a National Plan for Aquaculture Development, to increase the availability of farmed fish and reduce reliance on imported fish, fish products and fish feed.
As landings from the world's capture fisheries have reached their peak and are likely to remain at or around current levels for the foreseeable future, so the growing demand for fish is being met to an increasing extent by production from aquaculture industries.
The current situation within Greece reflects this general trend, with production from the country's own capture fisheries stagnant and imports being increasingly required to satisfy the growing demand for fish.
Against this background of increasing dependence on imports, the national authorities have identified the development of aquaculture as a means of expanding national production to meet demand. Specifically, a target of 20 000 t of fish and shellfish from aquaculture by the year 2000 has been set.
The current project is aimed at contributing to this development through the identification of needs and potentials and the creation of a national plan for the development of marine and inland aquaculture industries in Greece.
This report has been prepared as part of this project and is concerned with the marketing and product development needs of an expanding aquaculture industry in Greece.
If the objective of increasing production from aquaculture in Greece is to be achieved, markets for the products of aquaculture will be needed and these will have to be capable of sustaining levels of income which are sufficient to enable producers to maintain commercially viable operations. Strategies for development need to take account of this basic requirement.
The markets for aquaculture are essentially the same as those for capture fisheries, and development strategies have to be based on an understanding of these markets and the opportunities they present.
Markets for fish and fish products are highly complex and influenced by a wide range of factors. Variations in demand exist between different species, between different grades, sizes and products of the same species, between countries and within countries and between age-groups and socio-economic classes. Demand is also influenced by seasonal factors, levels of income, availability and relative prices of competing sources of production and substitutes, and by various factors which affect the costs of production, distribution and marketing of fish and fish products.
Decisions to invest in new forms of production or to increase existing production have to be based on reliable information or intelligence about markets if the risks involved in investment in aquaculture are to be minimized.
The successful marketing of production from both capture fisheries and aquaculture is also dependent on effective channels of distribution between the producer and the consumer.
Again, production from new aquaculture industries will to a large extent rely on the distribution systems which have evolved for the traditional capture fisheries. Consequently, an understanding of these systems and their efficiency is necessary for the development of aquaculture.
When consumer demand for fresh, live or raw product has been satisfied, increased production will depend on the expansion of the market through the development of new processed products and preparations which are acceptable to the consumer.
It is, therefore, important that an understanding exists of the market's capacity to absorb such products and of the country's capacity to produce them, if the size of the industry is not to be limited by the level of demand for fresh product.
Although it is true that aquaculture products enter the same market as those from capture fisheries and are largely dependent on the established distribution and product development capacities, aquaculture production can also have special advantages and disadvantages in the market-place.
Advantages will include a greater ability to supply regular, predictable quantities, thereby permitting the development of more stable and planned processing and marketing operations. The marketing disadvantages of aquaculture might include the consumer perception of intensively farmed fish as being inferior in quality to wild fish of the same species.
Finally, the direct involvement of the producer or public agencies in actions designed to improve market conditions does not have a long tradition and, despite the obviously critical nature of healthy markets for development, marketing is frequently neglected to the eventual detriment of all other development efforts.
It is, therefore, important to stress that activity by producers and public agencies can have positive effects on markets. Such activity would include the provision of market information, the control and streamlining of distribution systems, quality control schemes and legislation, tariffs on competing imports and stimulation of demand through purchasing policies for public institutions and promotional schemes for fish and fish products.
New aquaculture production, despite special features such as predictability of supplies which affect its marketability, will be largely dependent on existing markets for fish and fish products and on the distribution and product development capacities which have evolved for capture fisheries. Information and understanding of these are essential for aquaculture development.
Public agencies and producers should not neglect marketing needs in development and they can act to affect the market in a positive way.
