12. A presentation was made by the Secretariat (Ms Doris Soto) on environmental issues on aquaculture in the Mediterranean. The main purpose of the presentation wasto: (a) synthesize the published information on environment and aquaculture interactions in the Mediterranean;and (b) contribute to identifying the main relevant issues which are common to this ecosystem and which can be approached with an integrated management perspective.
13. The presentation highlighted that:(i) the information is only available for certain aquaculture areas;(ii) there is little available information on environmental management to fish farmers; (iii) there is a lack of common harmonized and integrated environmental regulation and standards; and (iv) there is a need for a permanent environmental monitoring programme in the Mediterranean in relation to aquaculture activities.The full paper is attached as Appendix D.
14. The experts noted that a large amount of the information available seems to be somewhat biased and the negative effects of aquaculture advertised more systematically than the positive ones such as the local enhancement of fisheries as a result of aquaculture practices. On the other hand, it appeared evident that social (both from tourism and local inhabitants) concerns on aquaculture are increasing particularly as finfish cage farming is expanding. The presentation was well received by the experts who concurred that the Secretariat should make available the information so far collected on environment and aquaculture interactions through SIPAM. The latter network would also be invited to regularly update the information.
15. A second presentation delivered by the Secretariat (Ms Donatella Crosetti) gave an overview of selected and available information on policies and the regulatory aquaculture frameworks in relation to environmental impacts. The Secretariat pointed out that information on legislation dealing with the environment and aquaculture is available in a number of accessible databases including FAOLEX1 and ECOLEX2 and for selected topics in specific FAO reports. In addition, the National Aquaculture Sector Overviews (NASOs) and National Aquaculture Legislation Overviews (NALOs) being prepared by FAO Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service (FIRI) provide comprehensive information on regulations related to aquaculture and environmental impact for most of the GFCM Members.
16. Furthermore, the experts acknowledged that thedifferent regulations adopted by each country indicated the necessity of harmonization at the regional level, though countries have recently made a great effort for adopting new regulations, thus responding to the development and intensification of aquaculture activities in the Mediterranean.
17. In the discussions that followed, the relevance of implementing some common processes with effective results, such an environmental impact assessment (EIA) system, was agreed and emphasized. It was noted that the European Union (EU) was already promoting such a process, including in those non-member countries exporting products to the Union. Furthermore, legislations need to be more visible as well as strategic environmental impact assessment at coastal zone scale (rather than at the individual farm level). Another priority would be to properly estimate the holding capacity of farming area.
