Italy: Steady growth, despite the blue crab
The Italian aquaculture sector is facing bureaucracy, high inflation and an invasive crustacean, but optimism remains.
The Italian fish farming sector is steadily growing these days despite the twin headwinds of high inflation and the country’s traditional bureaucracy, which limit more active growth of the market.
Despite a generally complex business environment in Italy at present (especially in its southern part), the development of aquaculture remains a priority for the government of Italy – not surprisingly for a country which has a coastline of more than 8,000km.
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Italy has achieved some progress in the development of its fish farming sector, although production remains practically at the same level as the beginning of the century, which leads to a high dependence on imports.
According to the Italian Fish Farmers’ Association (API), Italy currently remains third in Europe in terms of aquaculture output and second in terms of fishing. The aquaculture industry consists of more than 800 farms (mostly of small and medium size), of which the total annual output is estimated at about 145,000 tonnes.
The range includes up to 30 of various fish and seafood species. The turnover of the industry is estimated at about €350m (about £290m). It employs more than 7,500 workers and accounts for 40% of Italy’s overall fish production. Emilia Romagna and Veneto represent about 50% of national production. They are followed by Friuli Venezia Giulia (13%), Puglia (9%) and Lombardy (4%).
In recent years the industry has faced serious problems, which may pose a threat for its active development in years to come.
According to a recent meeting, organised by API in its headquarters in Confagricoltura in Rome, Italy remains still heavily dependent on imports, while local fish farmers are still unable to meet the country’s needs in some key fish species, such as sea bass and sea bream.
According to the President of API, Matteo Leonardi, there is currently a significant imbalance in the Italian aquaculture sector, which requires serious actions both from the state and industry’s players.
Leonardi says: “Italy covers just 20% of its domestic needs for such important fish species as sea bass and sea bream (which along with trout, mussels and clams are the most produced fish and seafood species in Italy), while the remaining 80% is imported. These data not only highlight the untapped potential of Italian aquaculture and mariculture, but also the need for targeted strategies for certain species to increase domestic production and reduce dependence on imports”.
According to API, in recent years the sector has faced a series of complex challenges, including climate change and bureaucratic complications, which hold back its more active development.
As for climate change, as the experts of API believe, the increase in average and maximum seasonal temperatures in the Mediterranean is negatively affecting production, creating serious problems for Italian fish farmers.
As representatives of farmers have also said, bureaucratic complications also create serious problems for them. The industry is keen to see simplification of the existing administrative procedures with regard to provision of licences for the establishment of new fish farms.
Solving these problems would create conditions for growth in a number of sites used for aquaculture in the country. In addition, according to API, among the other priority goals for the industry is more active training of personnel and acceleration of R&D activities.
Local analysts believe further growth of the aquaculture sector will provide an impetus for the entire fish sector of Italy.
According to recent statements made by Francesca Biondo, Director of The Italian National Federation of Fishing Enterprises (FEDERPESCA), developing the aquaculture sector is very important for Italy.
She said: “Aquaculture in Italy is experiencing significant growth and we are already the third EU country in terms of aquaculture production. Fishing and aquaculture must not be considered two competing sectors: they must work together to respond to the growing demand for fish products by Italians and thus reduce dependence on imports”.
Despite the existing high dependence on imports, in recent years the Italian aquaculture sector has achieved some serious success, as the country became the leading country in Europe in terms of the production of sturgeon and rainbow trout, covering 45% and 20% of the market respectively.
Italy remains the European leader in shellfish farming, ranking first in the production of clams of the Ruditapes philippinarum species (the “Manila clam”), with 94.2% in volume and 91.6% in value, and covering approximately two-thirds of mussel production in the European continent.
Meanwhile another clam, called “cornuta” due to its double siphon, is at risk of extinction. This native species, according to some analysts, is the only “true clam” in the Mediterranean, even if Italian law also extends the term to Ruditapes philippinarum, originally from the the Indo-Pacific. The latter was introduced into the Adriatic Sea only for commercial reasons but is generally considered to be of poor flavour.
In recent years the production of mussels and clams in Italy has significantly declined, mainly due to the ever-growing number of Atlantic blue crab (Callinectes sapidus). This species has rapidly invaded coastal environments in the western Mediterranean and poses a threat for the entire Italian shellfish farming industry.
According to Francesca Biondo, prior to the appearance of this crustacean in Italy, over 30,000 tonnes of clams were produced per year, mainly in the north-east.
She says: “Today we have a dramatic... drop in production between 70% and 100%.”
In recent years the situation has worsened, while last year two main Italian consortia, Scardovari and Goro, had to suspend their clam production activity because the blue crab had not only eaten almost all the molluscs, but had also prevented reproduction.
In the meantime, in addition to traditional fish and seafood species, state and local producers are looking at the production of such species as meagre and amberjack, sea urchin, grouper, halibut, grey mullet and pike-perch. Interest in growing the latter has significantly increased in Italy in recent years.
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