Purchasing excess fish production directly by the European Union.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nFacing the COVID-19 challenge<\/h3>\n On 29 May, the FEAP held an online General Meeting with the participation of national aquaculture associations from 17 European countries, both EU and non-EU. The assembly provided the ground for an exchange of views and discussions on the aquaculture sector\u2019s situation in the different countries in the context of the COVID-19 crisis<\/p>\n
FEAP\u2019s president, Marco Gilmozzi, expressed his concern that \u201cEuropean aquaculture is facing its biggest challenge for decades and, if the situation is not dealt with correctly, market risks will continue threatening in the aftermath of the sanitary crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Primary producers are the weak link in the value chain of aquatic products in Europe. Increasing operational production costs imposed by COVID-19 and the total closure of the important food service sector across Europe and export markets have brought European aquaculture to a critical point. Only retail markets and farm-gate sales are providing relief. The individual situation of the farming companies depends on the species produced, the markets targeted, and the countries.<\/p>\n
After an almost complete activity standstill in the beginning of March at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have slowly recovered but continue to see an average of 20-30% less sales than the same time last year. Fish farmers have worked hard to keep their workers safe and livestock healthy, showing great resilience in their operations and shifting their market aims.<\/p>\n
Transportation logistics have been a bottleneck for delivery to food markets and for juvenile and live fish movements. This is particularly the case for exports to far-away markets, the unavailability of flights with cargo capacity having affected exports almost as much as the situation in the destination markets.<\/p>\n
The representatives of FEAP\u2019s national associations highlighted that in the previous three months there had been a shift from initially solving the early operational challenges and stock-in-the-water increases to a search for alternative market developments as the dynamics of consumer shopping and consumption are changing radically.<\/p>\n
The need for public aid<\/h3>\n In this situation there is an urgent need for public aid to keep the production and the employment going. The European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF), planned to run between 2014 and 2020 and with a budget of \u20ac6.5bn, has been underused from its beginning for several reasons and more than \u20ac1bn remains unspent. For this reason, European public administrations set their eyes on it to provide quick and targeted relief for the fisheries sector (including aquaculture) in light of the COVID-19 crisis. The European Commission had proposed in March and April two successive amendments to the EMFF. The second of which was well-targeted and could, in theory, offer effective relief to EU fish farmers. Both amendments were swiftly approved by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, a development welcomed by the FEAP. In particular, Regulation (EU) 2020\/560 could grant working capital and compensation to aquaculture farmers for the temporary suspension or reduction of production and sales or for additional storage costs occurring between 1 February and 31 December 2020 as a consequence of the COVID\u201019 outbreak.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, not a single EU Member State has put this regulation into practice. The FEAP is extremely concerned that what was envisaged to provide swift aid to the EU aquaculture sector has entered the same doldrums as the conventional EMFF regulation. Competent authorities responsible to manage the EMFF at national and regional level are again proving that they are unable to handle these funds in an effective way.<\/p>\n
This situation creates further concerns as the next EMFF (2021-2017) is already looming on the horizon. This next fund, which will probably be called the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), has been designed as a very flexible fund but the minimal creativity and boldness being demonstrated by the competent authorities throughout the EU is proving once more that they only work effectively with very prescriptive regulations.<\/p>\n
The FEAP\u2019s president insisted that the European Commission and national authorities should start taking care of the potential deep market crisis that will occur once the COVID-19 pandemic is over and the aquatic product markets start to be flooded with fish arriving from European, non-European, and distant producing countries, not only from aquaculture production but also from capture fisheries.<\/p>\n
Good communication and an enhanced promotion and vigilance of fair trade will be required. The current Common Fisheries Policy considers Producer Organisations (POs) as key for the development of a viable and responsible aquaculture industry. In this sense, the FEAP has been recommending its member associations to convert into POs. Several are already operational in countries like Greece, Poland, the UK, Italy, and Spain. These POs could articulate solutions to this situation through their production and marketing plans. Furthermore, the POs could co-operate together for the sustainability of the European aquaculture sector that provides healthy, nutritious, tasty, and locally-produced food at an affordable price.<\/p>\n
The Federation of European <\/strong> \nAquaculture Producers<\/strong> \n+32 4 3382995 <\/strong> \nsecretariat@feap.info <\/strong><\/a> \nTweet @feapinfo<\/a><\/strong> \n www.feap.info<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nPlease note, this article will also appear in the fourth edition of our <\/strong><\/em>new quarterly publication<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Federation of European Aquaculture Producers speaks about safeguarding the aquaculture sector from the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24433,785],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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