It is imperative that the necessary regulatory modifications are enforced to boost the aquaculture industry

by Dr Antonio Garza

A few days ago, I was asked to analyse the proposals for regulatory initiatives in the fisheries and aquaculture sector that could contribute to the economic development of Mexico. To my surprise, and a bit of sadness, was that I found myself writing the same proposals that I wrote many years ago.

The first was the need to establish the Regulation of the General Law of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture (LGPAS). Today, there are many gaps in terms of procedures and legal certainty for our sector. It is also very complicated, considering whether state laws align with federal laws.
 

My recommendation is to finish making the structural modifications of CONAPESCA and INAPESCA and, since we know what the true scope of both institutions will be, if we publish a new law, it needs an established vision for the development of aquaculture and fisheries.

The aquaculture charter
Although the aquaculture charter was an extremely innovative effort when it was published, today it may possibly be time to update it and turn it into an increasingly more dynamic document. We need not only to better understand the species that are produced in the country and under what production systems they are, but also the technological packages for the main species that are produced in our territory should be included.

These technological packages should serve as a guide for investors, project evaluators and decision makers, and should be clear on the minimum investment size needed to produce this or that species in this or that production system.

This is something essential, since having this information can prevent the country from being filled again with micro farms of circular tubs that do not reach the point of equilibrium of production and, therefore, can never be profitable.

Homologation of electricity rates for aquaculture and agriculture
Although this seems extremely simple, we have spent more than twelve years trying to present our case without success in all the forums around the country. The truth is that the Ministry of Finance is the one that decides energy rates in Mexico and, in many cases, we have not knocked on the right door.

What is needed is that aquaculture has the same discount rate as agricultural irrigation, which should be used exclusively for aeration. Doing so would exponentiate the productive capacity of our farms-per-unit area or volume and also make new technologies more profitable. Today it is still very complicated, considering that modern, intensive aquaculture is profitable in our country for the cost of kilowatt per hours. This small impulse can cause aquaculture as an industry to double (at least) in a year without the need to increase existing infrastructure.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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