The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) met on Tuesday 8th of September on the occasion of its General Assembly, which theme this year was EU aquaculture and the EU Green Deal.

Mr. Virginius Sinkevičius [1], Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, gave some introductory words . The AAC Members then had the opportunity to exchange views with Member of the European Parliament Mrs Clara Aguilera and with Mr. Marius Vaščega, Head of Cabinet of Mr. Sinkevičius, who contributed with their answers to the reflexion upon how the AAC could contribute to deliver the Green Deal objectives.

The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) is a stakeholder-led European representative organisation that provides the European Commission and EU countries with recommendations for the sustainable development of aquaculture. The AAC invites top experts to give their insights for the preparation of its recommendations. Yesterday, the AAC members could listen to the presentations by Dr. Ralf Döring, Vice-Chair of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), and Mrs. Soïzic Schwartz from the French Ministry for Agriculture and Food.

A debate was organised in the last part of the meeting to get all the AAC member’s views on the opportunities and challenges brought by the Green Deal to the EU aquaculture sector and on how aquaculture can contribute to achieving the objectives of the Green Deal.

The AAC has already sent 4 recommendations [2] to the European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) on the revision of the Strategic Guidelines for the development of sustainable aquaculture in Europe, including a specific one on the shellfish sector. The exchanges of view on the Green Deal made during the General Assembly will feed into the AAC’s future recommendations.

 

[1] See the video here: https://aac-europe.org/en/news/multimedia/284-message-by-commissioner-sinkevicius-to-the-aac

[2] Recommendation on the Future Strategic Guidelines for the sustainable development of EU aquaculture: https://aac-europe.org/en/recommendations/position-papers/224-recommendation-on-the-future-strategic-guidelines-for-the-sustainable-development-of-eu-aquaculture
Second Recommendation on the Future Strategic Guidelines for the Sustainable Development of EU Aquaculture:
https://aac-europe.org/en/recommendations/position-papers/228-second-recommendation-on-the-future-strategic-guidelines-for-the-sustainable-development-of-eu-aquaculture
Third Recommendation on the Future Strategic Guidelines for the Sustainable Development of EU Aquaculture:
https://aac-europe.org/en/recommendations/position-papers/267-third-recommendation-on-the-future-strategic-guidelines-for-the-sustainable-development-of-eu-aquaculture
Strategic Guidelines IV – AAC recommendation on the development of shellfish-specific guidelines:
https://aac-europe.org/en/recommendations/position-papers/273-strategic-guidelines-4-aac-recommendation-on-the-development-of-shellfish-specific-guidelines