AF-EU-14013 Diversify (BO-45-001-002, BO-23.05-001-010)

Even though some 35 aquatic species are cultured in Europe, finfish aquaculture production is dominated both in volume and value by a handful of species - such as Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, common carp, European sea bass and gilthead sea bream that in turn limit the number of aquaculture products available in the market. All these species have experienced periods of pricing problems when production had surpassed demand resulting in price decreases, often close to or below the cost of production. Combined with less expensive imports, these pricing problems have slowed or even decreased the growth of aquaculture in the EU. At the same time, imports have been increasing steadily (EATIP, 2012) An efficient, sustainable and market-oriented expansion of the EU aqua-culture sec-tor based on new species and products will reduce the dependence of the EU consu-mer on imports from countries of questionable, often, production, health, environ-mental and social standards, and reduce the pressure on over-exploited fisheries in the EU.

In collaboration with a number of SMEs, DIVERSIFY will build on recent/current national initiatives for species diversification in aquaculture, in order to overcome the documented bottlenecks in the production of these species. The combination of biological, technological and socioeconomic research planned in DIVERSIFY are expected to support the diversification of the aquaculture industry and help in expanding production, increasing aquaculture products and development of new markets.