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

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• Aquaculture planning in some countries is limited to technical studies or recommendations.
• Aquaculture site selection is generally focused on administrative criteria (areas where there
are no conflicts of use with other activities) or environmental criteria (protected or sensitive
areas), and with no consideration given to the suitability of the aquaculture site for sustainable
production or income generation.
• Social and economic studies are not normally included as tools for aquaculture planning.
These should include market prospective analysis (matching supply to demand) and use in
conjunction biological, environmental and other technical studies to formulate aquaculture
plans.
• Integrated coastal zone management is limited to regional or local areas within each country.
Therefore, conflict of uses and lack of coordination and interaction among economic activities
prevail.
• There is lack of stakeholder participation mechanisms that are required to ensure proactive
input and accountability of the actors involved. There seems to be an inverse relationship
between the participatory process and efficiency in terms of time consumption and resources
that needs to be resolved.
• There is lack of common criteria and standards (monitoring, carrying capacity, EIA).
• There is lack of implementation, monitoring and compliance with aquaculture legislation.
On the last point, further work is required in relation to establishment and implementation of
legislation for aquaculture. Some countries have made reference in the surveys to the lack of
compliance with legal provisions already in force. In this sense, in 2004 the IUCN compiled the main
actions and priorities in order to improve the sustainable development of aquaculture. Among these
was the necessity of a review and comparison on legislation and policy, based on the fact that
“unrespected regulation is useless and non productive, thus the aim is to present to producers and
administrative officers improved and simple legal and administrative frameworks for their activity
and a basis for southern Mediterranean countries developments” (IUCN, 2004).
8.5 Recommendations
The recommendations proposed in the present work are based on the following considerations:
1. Although there are no ideal models applicable to all countries, it would be useful to adopt an
agenda of priority issues to ensure that the legal framework is suitable for aquaculture
development and planning.
2. Undoubtedly background, tradition and existing legislation will determine future
developments in each country.
3. The allocation of aquaculture administrative responsibility is linked to the design of the
institutional system; these recommendations do not advocate but for the most suitable level to
implement those competences, be this local, regional or national depending on the particular
country.
4. It would be useful to make progress on the formulation of common concepts and standards
within the Mediterranean basis. Additionally, the report includes indicators (as tools) and
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