Aquaculture makes a highly positive contribution to the European economy. In the European Union, the total value of the production was almost €2.5 billion in 1999, rising to almost €3 billion in 2000.

To put these figures into perspective, the value of landings from traditional fisheries was €5.5 billion in 2000. It must be mentioned that this figure is only for fishery catches landed in European ports by both EU and non-EU vessels.

Figure 1 shows the total value of aquaculture products by country in 1999.

Source: The European Commission

The biggest aquaculture production countries in the European Union are France, the United Kingdom and Italy.

Figure 2 shows the production per employee (N.B. The figures for value are for 1999 while the figures for employment are for 1997: this chart has been prepared to give a broad picture).

Source: The European Commission

The figure above shows that for 5 out of 14 country reports (Luxembourg is absent), the value produced per employee is well above €75,000. The Netherlands especially demonstrates a very high productivity, while Denmark, the United Kingdom, Greece and Portugal are also well ahead of the other countries. These differences can only be explained by the value of the species produced and the degrees of mechanisation of the processes.

In general, differences in productivity are due primarily to differences in the structure of the sector. First and foremost, there is a dependence on the value and quantities of the species produced (see the production statistics). These vary both in value and in the demand of manpower (species index) for the production system and the technology applied. Figure 3 shows the average value per kilo of product reared through aquaculture.

Source: The European Commission

The average value per kilo produced was €1.79 in 1999. As for the previous figure, the main reason for differences lies with the species produced. The Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Italy all produce large quantities of mussels, which contribute a high tonnage but a lower value. On the other hand, Greece mainly produces Seabream and Seabass which have higher relative market values. The Portuguese figures are viewed with some precaution since the national production is not very large and its production of the higher value marine fish species makes an important impact on the interpretation.  

Figure 4 shows the value of aquaculture production as a percentage of the total value for fishery products in 1999.    

Source: The European Commission

As mentioned the European average for the contribution of aquaculture was 30.8 % of the total for fisheries and aquaculture. Figure 4 shows that there is wide variation between EU Member States. For Austria, which has no coastline, aquaculture production is the sole source of fishery production. What is interesting to see is the importance of the Greek aquaculture sector, which now amounts to 56 % of the total value of fisheries activities.

In general, the European Commission reports that the production and the total value of aquaculture products are increasing and that this growth partly compensates for the decreasing catches in the wild. This subject is being dealt with in more detail elsewhere in Aquamedia.