Site selection and carrying capacity in Mediterranean ... - FAO Sipam

106 GFCM:XXXV/2011/Dma.9
Figure 9 - Licensing procedure: bodies involved in the granting of aquaculture licenses
AUTHORITIES INVOLVED IN AQUACULTURE LICENSING GRANTING
40%
0%
0%
20%
A major legal constraint for aquaculture development, usually remarked on by private operators, is
related to cumbersome and overlapping norms and administrative procedures. In the
Mediterranean basin, 40% of the studied countries have more than seven bodies/authorities that
should be consulted or informed in the license granting process. For instance: Turkey (15), France
(12), Greece (11), and Spain (10) are the leading countries in this respect. On the other hand, Albania
and Morocco declare to have only 3 bodies/authorities involved. Although coordination would be at
the core of effectiveness in the licensing granting procedure, it seems quite evident that the higher the
number of bodies involved the more intricate the process.
In drawing some conclusions from the available data, two factors should be taken into account. The
first is related to the institutional framework and the decentralization of competencies at regional and
local level in each country, which have a direct impact on the number of authorities involved (as an
example, in Spain or Italy aquaculture competent authorities fall under regional governments; equally,
local authorities are involved in aquaculture in almost all the countries studied; Boxes 3 and 4). The
second factor underlines that aquaculture activities fall under the legal and regulatory jurisdiction of
multiple agencies. In this sense “it is important to recognize that criticisms of administrative overlap
sometimes are inapt in that there may be no explicit ‘overlap’ in the strict sense of two agencies
regulating the same activity. The term ‘overlap’ is often used in a general sense to connote the
complexity of regulation and the confusion that is the predictable consequence of that complexity”
(Duff et al. 2003).
Once again, a central issue for an aquaculture legal and institutional framework lies in the definition
of concepts. Overlap and concurrence of competences are two different problems which call for
different solutions: overlapping requires a clear delimitation of competences; concurrence of
agencies and public bodies requires coordination and increase of efficiency in public management.
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20%
20%
ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN OR MORE