PURPOSE: to repeal Council Regulation 788/96/EC on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
CONTENT: the proposal is designed to improve and replace the existing Community legislation. Council Regulation 788/96/EC on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture production should therefore be repealed. The adoption of this Regulation will help in getting better data for implementing the strategy of the Commission for a sustainable development of the European aquaculture (INI/2002/2058).
The objective of the proposal is to provide for Member States to:
– submit data annually on the volume and value of the production from aquaculture with a breakdown by species, environment (freshwater or saltwater) and technology (e.g. in ponds or cages):
– submit data every third year on the input to capture-based aquaculture, i.e. the volume and value of fishery products taken from the wild and placed in aquaculture units for on-rearing to a marketable state:
– submit data every third year on production from hatcheries with a breakdown showing the products are to be used for on-growing in aquaculture units or released to the wild for example for restocking of waters.
– submit data every third year on the structure of aquaculture holdings giving information on the technology used and the size of the holdings.
The Commission will continue to ensure that concepts and definitions used in the current proposal on aquaculture statistics covering largely structural characteristics of the sector are compatible with those in the future implementing DCR legislation which will concentrate on economic aspects of the sector.
The proposed Regulation provides for coordination and harmonisation of data at EU level and for the national authorities to submit reports on the methods used to collect and compile them.
The Commission will continue to ensure that concepts and definitions used in the current proposal on aquaculture statistics covering largely structural characteristics of the sector are compatible with those in the future implementing DCR legislation which will concentrate on economic aspects of the sector.