Some aspects of the environmental impact of Aquaculture in sensitive areas FISH/2004/15 Europe

DG Fisheries (European Commission) - Project Dates:
June 2005 - May 2006

Description of Project:
The objectives of the study are as follows:

To better understand the interactions between different farming systems and the species / habitat complexes in their vicinity. This in itself needs an understanding of (i) the scale and nature of aquaculture being undertaken and (ii) the site-specific and cumulative impacts that might occur.

To assess the often apparently conflicting goals of aquaculture development and nature conservation in order to identify common aims and policy objectives. A practical output from this will be propose measures that should be included in the management plans foreseen in the Habitat’s Directive in order to cope with the possible interactions between aquaculture and environment.

To provide a practical ‘Code of Practise’ for use by marine aquaculture operators and regulatory authorities.

Services Provided:
Poseidon is the lead contractor and will be providing a number of key staff to the project. Other companies involved in this study include:

WS Atkins (UK) Napier University (UK) Pescares (Italy) Hellenic Centre for Marine Research(Greece)