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

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In general, applications for aquaculture projects are submitted with an accompanying technical study,
a biological study and other required documents, such as the EIA. For aquaculture licences, the EIA is
an important element to ensure protection of the environment where the aquaculture activity will take
place. The authority responsible for the environment usually oversees this type of assessment.
Regulations differ between different countries in terms of their content and the standards required for
the EIA. Although the EC has attempted to harmonise legislation within EU Member States, the EIA
requirements still differ from one country to the other. While in the EU, EIA criteria are mainly based
on production criteria, in other countries such as like Egypt, they are based on the site characteristics
where the facility will be located (for example, if it is a protected area).
8.4 Aquaculture planning
The challenge for aquaculture policy-makers, planners and managers
is to fully realize the potential contribution of aquaculture in
satisfying current and future human needs, while conserving and
protecting natural resources.
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Yong-Ja Cho, 2001
If the increasing economic pressure on the coastal zone is an issue worldwide, it is even greater issue
in the Mediterranean. According to the EC, “the Mediterranean bears 30% of global sea-borne trade in
volume from or into its more than 450 ports and terminals, and a quarter of worldwide sea-borne oil
traffic. Its coasts are home to more than 150 million inhabitants, a figure which doubles during the
tourist season” (COM, 2009).
Aquaculture is an economic activity that, like many others, exerts an influence on the littoral, hence,
contributing to conflict of interest and use of space in this zone. In this context, planning policies have
followed a philosophy based on partial and specific planning, generating a coastal zone management
for each concrete activity: port planning, fishing, industrial, urban planning, tourism and so on.
Aquaculture has not remained alien to this need for planning in order to contribute with an
economically and ecologically sustainable activity.
In this sense, worldwide, public administrative entities responsible for aquaculture have initiated the
implementation of public policies for the management of coastal areas identified for aquaculture
activities, protecting them from the impact of other coastal activities, while improving the
administrative processes and reducing the bureaucratic procedures for granting the aquaculture
license.
Already, in 2002, the EU pointed out that planning and coastal management are one of the major
challenges that European aquaculture will face. Recently, in its document “Building a sustainable
future for aquaculture: A new impetus for the Strategy for the Sustainable Development of European
Aquaculture”, the Commission recalls that “area choice is crucial and spatial planning has a key role
to play in providing guidance and reliable data for the location of an economic activity, giving
certainty to investors, avoiding conflicts and finding synergies between activities and environments
with the ultimate aim of sustainable development” and invites all Member States “to develop marine
spatial planning systems, in which they fully recognise the strategic importance of aquaculture. In this
context, as part of the preparation of the next reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, the
Commission will consider the possibility to strengthen the linkages between Community financial
instruments and the issue of access to space for maritime activities, including aquaculture” (COM
2009)
Although there is certain consensus on the need of planning for aquaculture, once again the definition
of the concept and the meaning of ’planning’ are multiple. In the socioeconomic and institutional