Marine finfish production in France & Italy

Aquaculture in France has an important tradition and history. France was one of the pioneers in Europe in the development of research and technology which led to the growth of the industry in general. France is the second largest producer in Europe with a total aquaculture production of 237,451 tonnes in 2007 and €545 million in value (Eurostat). The greatest part of French aquaculture is the production of shellfish (190,000 tonnes) and finfish (55 000 tonnes), of which marine aquaculture is the smallest part at 9.000 tonnes. It is estimated that the sector employs close to 20,000 people in 3700 production sites.

As far as freshwater production is concerned, France produces approximately 34000 tonnes of trout per year in 500 different farms and 6000 tonnes of carps. Most of the industry is made up of small farms with an annual production of less than 200 tonnes. Marine aquaculture in France has stagnated over the past five years due to the constraints on sites and the relatively higher cost of production of farms in relation to competition from Greece and Turkey. There are approximately 30 production units operating in France today. The marine aquaculture industry in France is still very fragmented with 40 individual companies occupying 46 production sites, including hatcheries and or on-growing units.

There is only one company with an annual production of more than 1000 tonnes and two companies with a production between 500 and 1000 tonnes. No new production licences were issued in the past 15 years and competition for space with other users, mainly tourism, is fierce. For all that, the French industry has capitalized on its identity as a niche producer, emphasizing their attributes as a National producer with stringent safety and quality regulations. The perception of the national product is largely positive and valued over non-French products and it still exists, although the premium paid for French products has decreased somewhat over the past 10 years. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.