New EU health rules for fish farms

Prevention is the best cure for tackling disease in farmed fish said the European Commission, after revealing proposals for new rules on aquaculture.

Brussels is concerned that current EU laws, developed more than 20 years ago covering mainly salmon and oyster farms, are out of date and could lead to the spread of diseases within the aquaculture industry.

“A central aspect of the proposal is a shift in focus to preventing disease occurrence at each point in the production chain rather than dealing with it only when an outbreak occurs”, said a commission spokesman on Tuesday.

Up to 40 per cent of sea food products eaten in the EU can come from aquaculture sources, with species such as sea bass and lobster now being successfully farmed.

The commission want the new proposals to take into account these developments in aquaculture, and to include the lessons leaned from science and production over the last two decades.

“The legislation will be updated to reflect the broader range of farmed products”, said the spokesman.

The proposals also hope to secure a flexible approach in dealing with the health of farmed aquaculture products, with more powers to deal with problems at national, local and even at individual farm level.

And the commission also proposed that financial assistance, to help contain disease outbreaks in the industry, be made available from the European Fisheries Fund.

EU health chief, Markos Kyprianou, warned that outbreaks of disease could undermine consumer confidence of farmed fish and shellfish.

“Having healthy animals is fundamental to Europe’s aquaculture sector, which generates millions of euros annually. Prevention is the best cure, and that is what our legislation aims at”, said Kyprianou.

The EU aquaculture industry is worth around €2.5 billion.

Current estimates of losses due to disease are put at 20 per cent, or around €500 million per year.

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