Aquaculture in Europe Aquaculture in Europe started in the 1960s, before which the wild fishery was a more important activity. The development of this activity has since been important in several European countries, including Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Ireland and the United Kingdom. History The origin of aquaculture goes back to the Roman era, when fish were kept in artificial ponds or cages, but this was rare. At the end of the Roman Empire, the decline in the fisheries made aquaculture less economically viable. The beginning of the modern aquaculture of fish begins with the development of salt-water fish farming and its commercialization in Spain in 1966. In 1978, its commercialization started in France. In 2002, the aquaculture industry in the European Union was worth about €2.3 billion (including salmonid farming in sea cages). Some of this is exported, but most of it is consumed locally. The countries which led the early development of aquaculture in the 1980s are Spain, France and Italy. As of 2008, this sector was growing in Spain, France and Portugal. Aquaculture has had many difficulties in the United Kingdom, which has led to the replacement of a number of fish farms with offshore wind farms. Aquaculture in various countries Aquaculture in Europe includes several activities and includes species such as oysters, clams, crabs, prawns, freshwater mussels, finfish, shellfish, shrimps and fish like carp, tilapia and catfish. Some countries have specific aquaculture projects, e.g., salmon and shrimp in Spain and sea bass in Italy. Germany In 2007, Germany was the largest aquaculture producer in Europe and the seventh largest in the world. The industry included farming salmonids in fresh and salt water. In 2002, about 45% of the European production of farmed salmon came from German farms. In 2007, fish farmers produced over 1.1 million tons of fish worth €4.2 billion (2007), compared with 1.2 million tons in 2006. Germany produced 40% of the European farmed salmon and 30% of the global total. France In France, farming of fish started in the 1960s, by research institutes and large food companies. There are now farms using freshwater and salt-water. In 2007, this sector produced 300,000 tons of freshwater and 90,000 tons of salt-water fish, valued at €550 million. In 2003, the consumption of fresh fish increased by 12.4%, when compared with the previous year, and total consumption of fish products reached 2.6 million tons. The biggest production of farmed freshwater fish is farmed salmon, which is dominated by large companies in France. The major freshwater aquaculture species in France are tilapia, barbary fig, catfish, and carp. The farming of freshwater oysters is also quite important and there are a number of companies working in this sector. The largest farm in Europe is located in Darnétal, which produces 50,000 tons of oysters per year. In France, tilapia are farmed in saltwater cages and in coastal lagoons. The farming of trout in freshwater cages in the river Lot also takes place. In 2003, the country produced about 5% of the European total of farmed fish and 25% of the total for salmon. The estimated total in 2008 was 700,000 tons. The French production of fish was valued at about €220 million in 2007. Italy In Italy, fish farming began in 1978 and the production of molluscs, particularly cultivated mussels, began in 1998. The production of cultivated mussels reached 100,000 tonnes in 2006. Sea bream and sea bass are farmed by coastal farms. Poland In Poland, one of the most important commercial fish farming is Atlantic salmon farming. One of the largest companies is SeaGen from Poland. The largest aquaculture company is Mowi (Salm) from Gdansk (Salmon). Spain In Spain, the sector of salmon and trout farming started in 1966. One of the companies involved in this sector is Aigües de Valencia. In 2007, Spain produced 7,000 tons of salmon and 1,600 tons of trout, valued at €1.5 million. The total production of fish in 2007 was valued at €180 million. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, aquaculture began in Scotland in 1971 and expanded to Wales in 1974 and England in 1977. The industry remains small, comprising only 0.02% of the UK's production of fish and 0.6% of the total of food production. This is due to several factors, the most important of which is the high cost of land required for the use of nets for sea cages. Since the end of the 20th century, salmon farming started on the east coast of Scotland and in the Shetland Islands, but was not sustainable. The fish population continued to dwindle in Scotland, and even as a result of global warming in the North Sea, which affected plankton. Other factors, which were not helped by the construction of the Sellafield nuclear power station, which also discharged radioactive materials into the sea, have affected the salmonid populations. As a result, salmon farming has disappeared from Scotland and is very small in Wales and England. However, a joint venture between SSP and Vitesco of Norway has started a salmon cage farm in Wales, which aims to catch all the salmon escaping from the Sellafield plant and thus be able to reduce the presence of the radioactive materials in the sea. Other fish farms in the United Kingdom have been in the sea of north-west England, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Norfolk, Suffolk and Norfolk, including sea bream, sea bass, prawns, cod, plaice and shellfish, mainly mussels. Most of these are in coastal areas, with the exception of the mussels, which are farmed in inland tanks. A joint venture between SSP and Vitesco of Norway has started a salmon cage farm in Wales, which aims to catch all the salmon escaping from the Sellafield plant and thus be able to reduce the presence of the radioactive materials in the sea. United States In 2008, it was estimated that the US had 1.9 million fish farms, the largest being about long by wide. About 12% were fish-feed producing farms. More than 13 million tonnes of fish were produced on about 3,000 farms with more than $12 billion in sales. In 2001, there were about 8,500 fish farms in the United States with about 40% of salmon, 16% of oysters and 3% of trout. In November 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warnings against the consumption of farmed fish from China after a large die-off there of bluegill. The same year, the FDA also recalled several varieties of salmon eggs from a fish farm in Chile. The eggs had been sold as farmed-Atlantic salmon eggs. Although no salmonella was found, the eggs were found to be mislabeled and had come from Chilean fish farms. In 2007, the North American aquaculture industry sold about of fish (valued at over US$2 billion), according to the annual report of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which was released in July 2008. Of this total, nearly 99% was destined for domestic consumption. The species that made up the bulk of the aquaculture production were tilapia, salmon and catfish. In 2008, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced a ban on feeding poultry with "non-mechanized" (aka, "conventional") catfish and prawn feed and ingredients. The agency said the move was made following an incident where it had received "reports of concerns from several Canadian consumers over salmonella". However, despite the ban, there have been no incidents of salmonella being detected in Canadian catfish or prawns. Argentina In 2005, aquaculture production was worth US$140 million, including fish and crustaceans. Of this total, more than half was for tilapia, salmon and shrimp. Aquaculture farms include farms located in Mendoza and San Juan. In 2007, more than 20 million tons of fish were produced in Argentina, some of which was processed locally. In the same year, the country produced an estimated 1,650 tonnes of fish, including salmon, oysters, mussels and prawns. Australia Aquaculture in Australia has a long history, and in the 1920s and 1930s, salmon was exported from Western Australia to other parts of the world. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, Australian agriculture was heavily promoted as a non-traditional source of food. To support this, large amounts of research were funded by the Australian Government to explore the possibility of increasing the global supply of protein through aquaculture. In 1958, a federal government department was established for aquaculture, and within that department a Fish Farming Research Bureau was created. In the 1960s, research undertaken by this organisation established a theoretical basis for aquaculture and identified the main environmental and biological factors influencing aquaculture productivity. This work led to the formation of Fish Australia, which was established in 1969.