An analysis of the European aquaculture industry using the aquaculture performance indicators

The consumption of aquatic foods in Europe is high. This strong seafood demand is currently being met not only through domestic aquaculture but also through imports. In recent decades, aquaculture has gained significant importance as a domestic source of seafood, primarily due to the dwindling availability of wild fish stocks and the escalating demand for seafood. This study investigates the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of 14 European aquaculture industries in 12 countries representing about 69% of total European aquaculture production using the Aquaculture Performance Indicators (API). We find that the average scores in Europe are higher than global average scores in all dimensions. While this should be expected in the environmental dimension given that European countries are developed economies with comprehensive environmental and food regulation in place, it is somewhat surprising in the other dimensions as the sector have been growing slowly compared to the rest of the world. However, it is growing and this is a signal of viable companies. It is also important to note that there are significant differences between industry segments. As expected, shellfish has the best scores in the environmental dimension, but the most important result is that all the sectors investigated score high relative to the global averages.