Priorities adopted by the Commission

Today, we welcome a new section in the guidelines about fish welfare and its focus on animal health. In it, the Commission calls for the development of codes of practice for the welfare of fish during farming, transport and slaughter; the development of species-specific welfare indicators; more research on the welfare of farmed fish, as well as training producers on fish welfare.

Moreover, the guidelines encourage producers to limit the reliance on fishmeal and fish oil taken from wild-caught fish. For EU aquaculture to become sustainable, we must see a move away from intensive farming of carnivorous species (like salmon or sea bass and bream) that require lots of feed, mostly based on wild-caught fish.

The use of wild fish removes a vital part of the oceanic food chain. The forage fish used to make fishmeal and oil are also killed inhumanely in massive numbers, estimated at 500-1200 billion individuals globally per year.

Instead, we need to promote extensive systems and low food chain species as algae and shellfish that do not require feed and provide ecosystem services as the absorption of excess nutrients and organic matter from the environment or the conservation and restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity.

We welcome that the guidelines support the cultivation of seaweed and mollusks, extensive methods of production as ponds or wetlands and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, as these can provide climate-mitigation services such as carbon sequestration.