Guiding aquaculture research in the Mediterranean
Aquaculture is a high potential Blue Growth sector for the Mediterranean with the potential to provide jobs and healthy products for European citizens. However, the industry is faced with significant challenges including appropriate production systems, sufficient space, animal health and increased competition, which all need to be tackled to ensure a prosperous, sustainable industry. The AQUAMED project was a European Commission-funded support action tasked with assisting the development of a cross-functional strategy for sustainable aquaculture research in the Mediterranean basin. The project’s objectives were to contribute to the strengthening of links between the main research institutes and key stakeholders in the entire Mediterranean region. Moreover, they promoted innovation; and addressed the main issues for the development of a sustainable aquaculture sector. These objectives have been achieved by bringing together aquaculture stakeholders across the Mediterranean to join a Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSHP), which helped identify and prioritise research needs for a sustainable Mediterranean aquaculture sector. By bringing together stakeholders to develop a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, it was intended to ensure that future funding is strategic, coordinated and orientated towards the biggest challenges facing the production sector whilst respecting the principles of sustainability. To assist the stakeholder in arriving at a common strategic research agenda, the partnership carried out a range of tasks including surveys of key stakeholders in each country, collation of a database of all research infrastructure and projects, creation of a stakeholder databases and an examination of policy and governance systems. All public project results are available on the project website. The AQUAMED project has resulted in several significant achievements, as outlined in this document, and already a mandate is in place to sustain the concept of a MSHP under the auspices of the FAO GFCM committee, thereby continuing the good work developed by AQUAMED. AQUAMED has been an impactful project. It has provided guidance and direction to the Mediterranean aquaculture sector and helped to set up structures that have now been adopted by others.
Keywords
Mediterranean aquaculture, multi-stakeholder platform, research and development, strategic research agenda, sustainability, blue growth, international cooperation
