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Aquaculture Advisory Council

AAC

The objective of the Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) is to contribute to the sustainable development of European aquaculture by preparing and providing advice on subjects and issues relating to the aquaculture value chain, on behalf of all those stakeholders engaged in the aquaculture production sectors, feed and ingredient suppliers, processing, service suppliers, consumers and other interest groups.

Lobbying Activity

Response to European fishery statistics

3 Nov 2025

The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) has adopted a recommendation on European Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics (see attached document) and is sharing it as feedback on this initiative.
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Response to European Water Resilience Strategy

4 Mar 2025

The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) has provided feedback to this initiative in the document attached. This document is a preliminary contribution subject to possible adjustments due to the very short time to process and adopt it properly in the AAC.
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Response to The European Oceans Pact

14 Feb 2025

The Aquaculture Advisory Council has provided feedback to this initiative in the document attached.
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Response to Evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy

5 Sept 2024

The Aquaculture Advisory Council has provided feedback to this initiative in the document attached.
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Meeting with Clara Aguilera (Member of the European Parliament)

23 Oct 2023 · Acuiculture

Response to Carbon Removal Certification

29 Apr 2022

The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) has unanimously adopted the recommendation enclosed in response to this public consultation on "Carbon sequestration by molluscs". It has also been officially sent to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs (MARE).
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Meeting with Virginijus Sinkevičius (Commissioner) and

1 Apr 2022 · The follow up meeting with the sector to discuss the Commission response to the crisis in the fisheries sector, to present the measures adopted and planned

Meeting with Charlina Vitcheva (Director-General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) and MEDAC and

19 Jan 2022 · Inter-Advisory Councils meeting - opening statement

Response to Amendment to the delegated act on the functioning of the Advisory Councils under the Common Fisheries Policy

9 Sept 2021

The European Commission (EC) is revising the delegated act laying down detailed rules on the functioning of Advisory Councils (ACs). A first delegated regulation was adopted in 2015 (2015/242) and modified in 2017 (2017/1575). Following regular exchanges with the ACs Chairs and secretariats, the Commission has drafted a new proposal aiming at further improving the functioning of ACs. The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) welcomes the Commission’s willingness to improve the functioning of ACs and most of the provisions included in the proposal. Indeed, they tackled the concerns expressed in the past about the functioning of the AAC. The AAC members believe that this new piece of regulation will allow them to focus their work on their primary objective: providing timely and quality recommendations to the EC. The AAC members would like to share some comments to the proposed text: - Consideration of small-scale aquaculture farms representatives: The AAC members request that wherever in the DA there is a reference to “small scale fleets” for capture fisheries the following text should be included “…and small-scale aquaculture farms”. - On Recital 7:  Recital 7 corresponds to one of the AAC’s suggestions. The EC added “indirect interest” and gave two examples but “indirect” is not really defined. This could lead to future discussions/confusions (consumers, for instance, could be considered as having an indirect interest by the simple consumption of aquaculture products). “Indirect interest” should be clearly defined. The AAC suggests to the EC to replace “In addition, organisations having indirect economic interests in the above-mentioned sectors, such as fishing net manufacturers or icemakers, should also be classified as ‘sector organisations’” with “In addition, suppliers to the above-mentioned sectors, such as fishing net manufacturers or icemakers, should also be classified as ‘sector organisations’”. - On Article 1 of the new Annex: The AAC members request a clarification on what type of ‘health” is meant, human or animal. Although ‘animal welfare’ sometimes comprises ‘animal health’ it is not always the case and regulations must avoid ambiguities that can lead to misinterpretations. For example, the EC in its communication on the Strategic guidelines for a more sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture for the period 2021 to 2030 separates animal health from animal welfare and discusses them separately. The AAC proposes the following amendment in addition: (e) provided that one of the criteria listed in point 1(a) to 1(d) is met, the organisation is active in the field of environment, consumers and human rights, public health, promotion of equality, animal health or animal welfare. - On Article 2 of the new Annex: For the sake of clarity, the AAC members think that it would be more appropriate to set the criteria for the classification as “other interest group” in par. 2 by exclusion of eligibility criteria for the classification as “sector organisation”. The AAC members therefore propose the following wording for the first part of par. 2: “2. An organisation shall be classified ‘other interest group’ when it does not meet any of the criteria laid down in par. 1 of the present annex. (final point)“ The rest of point 2 may remain in the text (meaning keeping letters (a) and (b)).
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Meeting with Charlina Vitcheva (Director-General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) and MEDAC and

5 May 2021 · Inter-Advisory Councils meeting - discussion on key policy developments and functioning of the Advisory Councils

Meeting with Charlina Vitcheva (Director-General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) and MEDAC and

18 Jan 2021 · Joint inter-Advisory Councils meeting - discussion on key policy developments and priorities

Response to Contingency plan for ensuring food supply and food security

11 Jan 2021

The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) suggests that DG MARE's Advisory Councils are added to the list of parties to be consulted mentioned in the part “C-Better regulation - Consultation of citizens and stakeholders” of the roadmap. The AAC would welcome the opportunity to provide feedback on the form, nature and scope that the contingency plan for ensuring food supply and food security should take, in line with the Farm to Fork Strategy.
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Response to Green Recovery for the Blue Economy (tentative)

5 Dec 2020

The Green Deal calls for a growth strategy with the transformation of the maritime sector. A sustainable blue economy can play a central role in alleviating the demands on land resources and tackling climate change. The aquaculture sector can contribute by improving the use of aquatic resources and by promoting new sources of protein that can relieve pressure on agricultural land and on wild fish stocks. The Commissions Communication focuses on decarbonisation, zero pollution, circularity and biodiversity. The Communication encourages sustainable solutions, innovative products and services and emerging sectors with high employment potential and low environmental impact. The Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) welcomes the Commission’s initiative and presents 11 key recommendations: 1. Agrees that improved ocean knowledge and observation supports a sustainable Blue Economy. 2. Notes that the FAO attaches special importance to aquaculture as a food source with the potential for sustainable growth and recommends promoting it as a provider of food, employment and wealth. 3. Points to the Union’s significant trade deficit in aquatic products for human consumption that places the Union in a position of weakness regarding its present and future safety and food security and stresses that the deficit is unacceptable given the missed opportunities for employment. 4. Notes that the further development of the aquaculture systems with low carbon footprints and that provide ecosystem services could also help reduce the pressure on land use and freshwater. 5. Encourages the improvement of circularity in the use of marine raw materials and responsible sourcing of all feed ingredients to reduce pressure on marine ecosystems. 6. Highlights the need for an ecosystem-based approach to support sustainable growth, to reduce the degradation of aquatic habitats and to contribute to the maintenance of socio-cultural activities and biodiversity of coastal areas. 7. Points to the need to improve and simplify the regulatory aquaculture framework and a best practice platform to foster knowledge transfer in production and governance, and closer collaboration among Member states (in line with the objectives of the soon-to-be-launched Strategic Guidelines for EU Aquaculture). 8. Stresses the need to improve consumer information on aquaculture products in all food channels and the importance of a competitive level playing field for aquatic products in Europe. 9. Supports innovation and research to implement new aquaculture technologies and to optimize conventional aquaculture systems for the benefit of fish welfare and the environment as well as production. 10. Supports the use of marine spatial planning, sea basin strategies and river management plans. 11. Encourages the search for synergies between maritime sectors for a multiplier effect on the blue economy.
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