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

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13. Aquaculture frameworks relate not only to enacting legislation but also attend to the
implementation at national, regional and local levels. In particular, efforts for capacity building
should be made in those countries which plan to decentralize aquaculture competencies.
14. Aquaculture has always suffered the ‘burden of proof’, showing that its activities are not
harmful for the environment. But the impact of other activities on aquaculture has been somehow
neglected. Several states in the U.S. “have revised their water quality protection laws to
specifically take into account the environmental effects that state-run or state-permitted projects
may have on areas that support aquaculture operations. As a consequence, proponents of a wide
range of development projects must demonstrate that such projects will not significantly impact
water quality for aquaculture operation (Duff et al. 2003).
15. Some countries in the Mediterranean have developed examples of best practices for aquaculture
planning (e.g. Croatia - guidelines for marine aquaculture planning: integration and monitoring;
and Sicily - Linee guida per la realizzazione di impianti di maricoltura in Sicilia)
Further steps can be taken for the development of methodological approaches to evaluate the impact of
planning in aquaculture, including indicators to measure the results of policies and plans in the medium
and short term. Currently, we do not have tools to assess the impact of both policies and legal
frameworks on the aquaculture development.
Summarising, governments should insist on:
• Strength policy development through improved coordination among agencies.
• Identification of a lead agency in each country or region to coordinate aquaculture procedures,
concepts, plans etc…
• Interagency coordination is a critical element of effective policy planning and
implementation
• Streamlining of the permitting process and developing user-friendly guidelines on:
Which agencies need to be contacted
Who to contact within those agencies to help the permitting process.
Adoption of best management practices
• Include aquaculture as an strategic policy
• Address the lack of indicators to assess the impact of aquaculture planning on the activity
(production, value, employment)
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