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Aquaculture is at a crossroads in its development. European and national governments must come rather fast with rules to consolidate the ambitions of the sector. Although 'interference' by government is not the first thing that farmers are waiting for but, as far as fish farmers are concerned, there is another part to the story. The sector needs to be certain of the public position about issues like: animal welfare, medication, environmental-demands, slaughter methods, and other issues where legislative clarity is needed.  It is certain that clear and concise rules are needed to assure and to encourage the expansion of the sector.
Today there are still a lot of visible differences between the individual European states, a position which has a big influence on the position  of competition; therefore, it is very important to create a level playing field for the individual farmer as soon as possible.

Growth will probably not be through the production of more of the ‘traditional species’ like carp, trout, catfish, eel, etc. New species will become more important. Because of the scarcity of fish oil/meal, there is increasing interest in the farming of herbivorous fish such as carp or tilapia.

Stimulating investments for an increased production of existing species must be examined with care and must not lead to severe market disturbance, a condition that has been seen too often.

To be able to achieve a good balance between demand and supply, it is necessary to develop a chain, based on available data and updated information about the market. To achieve this, fish farmers must join forces to create the best opportunities for the growth and the development of the sector. The most important issue of modern aquaculture is that it has to be driven by the demand of the market; it is the only incentive for the sustainable development of the aquaculture sector.

In the European Union, we have now a strategy for sustainable development of aquaculture, which offers sufficient opportunities and possibilities for the further development of aquaculture in Europe.

Since Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic will be members in the very near future, it is advisable to take this position into account.

The industry must develop in new and advanced technologies. For this, more research is needed, and also for the introduction of new species, recognising their production characteristics at all of the different stages of development. At the same time, there is an increasing demand by consumers in European countries that farmed fish should be raised more in harmony with the environment, in safe conditions and in using environmental-friendly feeds.

Environmental constraints are also forcing more and more fish farmers to use recirculation systems. These systems make it possible to farm fish in a sustainable way because they have hardly any impact on the environment, especially with the use of the advanced systems, which are available today.

Recently, we installed in the Netherlands an Innovation Platform Aquaculture. Different parties, such as the government, science & research institutions and of course the sector, will contribute to this Platform. New initiatives, (technical) improvements, etc, will be discussed and at the end the will result in a number of concrete model projects. To start with, innovations and the development of knowledge and healthy competition will lead us towards a sustainable fish farming sector.

Wim van Eijk is a policy advisor on inland fisheries and aquaculture of the Dutch Product Board (an umbrella organisation for the Dutch fishing industry). He is also the General Secretary of the Dutch Association of Fish Farmers (NeVeVi).

Contact details: Treubstraat 17, Postbus 72, 2280 AB  Rijswijk (Netherlands). Tel: +31 (70) 3369607, Fax: +31 (70) 3999426. E-mail: weijk@pvis.nl