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

153 GFCM:XXXV/2011/Dma.9
Common administrative licensing procedures should be enforced at a Mediterranean level.
Efforts should be made to set up a basis for minimum common requirements, to facilitate capital
movement within the Mediterranean.
The criteria used to calculate the aquaculture fee should be reasonable, transparent and
uniform for each type of aquaculture, in order to ensure legal certainty. The fee for
occupation of an area in the public domain must be proportional to the use thereof, and take into
account the specific character of the aquaculture activity in question. Alternatives to purely
economic fees should be proposed.
The capabilities and human resources of the administrative authorities responsible for
aquaculture should be increased, backed up by a political commitment to coordinate the
institutions and agencies involved in the regulation and management of aquaculture.
K. Sectoral Planning
This guide presents sectoral planning as a means for achieving the sustainable development of the
aquaculture sector and describes the direct links between planning and site selection and site
management. A definition of sectoral planning and the components of the sector is given, followed by
the role of the authorities and key aspects needed for the development of a sectoral plan. Finally,
examples of sectoral planning procedures are described.
Principle
The selection and management of areas for aquaculture should take into account a sectoral approach
and sectoral planning.
Guidelines
The potential for growth of the aquaculture sector in a particular geographical area should
be taken into account as the starting point for the selection of sites. The prospect of growth
is an essential factor to ensure that the activity appears and/or remains in a specific geographical
area.
The growth of the sector should be balanced with respect to other sectors sharing the same
public domain areas. It is important to find a balance between the development of aquaculture
and other activities that interact with it in public domain areas, which is why growth of the
former must be planned and orderly.
Sectoral planning should balance the sector’s needs and the authorities’ objectives. As
principal actors in the process, both parties should interact and develop a co-construction
process supported by other actors such as associations, research bodies and other organizations.
Effective sectoral planning should be based on prospective studies. Empirical knowledge is
needed to lay the foundations for sectoral plans. This in turn requires sufficient economic,
material and human resources to obtain the information needed and make it available to the
actors involved in the sector’s development.
Sectoral planning should be carried out with the help of instruments and tools that make
appropriate spatial and temporal analysis possible. Geographical information systems are
tools that facilitate the reading, representation and analysis of information.
L. Private Sector Organizations
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