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

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EGYPT
Egypt is the largest aquaculture producer in the southern Mediterranean. Although dominated by
freshwater culture, there is a significant amount of brackish water culture. The sector’s growth has
been the result of initiatives that have engaged policy makers, producers and other local stakeholders
(NEPAD 2005). For example, in the coastal city of Alexandria, the aquaculture sector is explicitly
included as one of the stakeholders in the city’s plan for sustainable development (CEDARE 2007).
Although relationships among various stakeholders vary, there has been a fairly consistent effort to
engage relevant individuals and groups. The exploitation of synergies between brackish water
aquaculture and agriculture has resulted in the extensive cultivation of various species of mullet, sea
bream, sea bass and shrimp in the saline Lake Quarun. Total production of all species is estimated at
23 000 tonnes, with a yield of 150 kg/ha per annum. Juvenile mullet are raised in earthen ponds
adjacent to the lake and fertilizer and livestock waste is the main feed input. There are several longstanding
conflicts between the aquaculture and environmental/conservation stakeholders. First, there
is concern about excess effluent. Second, the primary source of fry for all species is wild stock and
this is considered a serious non-sustainable practice, especially for mullet (ICES, 2005; El Gayar,
2003; Mega Pesca, 2001).
6.4 Synthesis and Conclusions
Even the brief case by case review above reveals the variety of stakeholders and type of interactions
among mariculture and other activities in the coastal zone throughout the Mediterranean region. The
interactions that tend to be most documented are those involving conflict and the most common
conflicts are over space, that is in Zone A, the immediate area around the farms. Most farms are
effectively no-go zones for bathers, divers and recreation and commercial vehicles. Visual disamenity
(impacts to the sea-scape) is also a major source of conflict when tourists and homeowners are
important stakeholders. Other conflicts in Zone A include those related to pollution, and these can be
bi-directional, that is the effect of farm effluent on the receiving environment and the effect of
pollution from other coastal users on aquaculture operations. For example, waste disposal from many
sources (e.g. municipal, industrial, tourism, fishing, shipping and ports) poses a greater threat to fish
farms compared to the spillover effects of fish farm waste on these other stakeholder uses (Y.
Karakassis, pers. com.). Although such threats need to be considered in aquaculture site selection,
they tend to receive less attention than spillovers originating from fish farms. Depending on the
environment, the amount of fish farm effluent released and other variables, pollution effects may also
extend to Zone B, but such effects have not been documented to date (Karakassis et al. 2005).
The approach to managing actual and potential conflicts is also highly variable. In certain regions in
Spain, the process for allocating uses of the coastal zone and for licensing mariculture is, in the main,
comparatively clear and transparent. In Turkey, and to a lesser extent Greece, conflicts are managed
on a case by case basis and coastal zone management is less advanced than in Spain. Stakeholder
involvement also varies across the region and ranges from planning that has a high degree of
stakeholder leadership to processes that have lesser degrees of engagement. For example, currently, in
Algeria and Egypt, stakeholder consultation was introduced from the very beginning of the planning
process and resulted in specific project proposals (Simard, 2008). This contrasts with the Turkish case
above, in which a stakeholder process was employed only after major changes in legislation had
already taken place (White et al. 2008). Learning from examples such as these will be especially
important for countries in the southwest quadrant of the Mediterranean as commercial scale
mariculture is at a very early stage of development. These countries in particular stand to benefit
greatly from the application of ICZM that includes aquaculture stakeholders.
The Working Group on Environmental Interactions of Mariculture (WGEIM) cites four advantages of
integrating aquaculture in coastal zone planning (ICES 1998):
1. the activity is based on renewable resources and can be sustainable;
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