REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 762/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 788/96

1. Introduction

On 9 July 2008 the Regulation (EC) No 762/2008[1] on the submission by Member States of Statistics on Aquaculture (hereinafter referred to as the Aquaculture Statistics Regulation) was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. The Regulation applied from 1 January 2009 and repealed Council Regulation (EC) No 788/96[2]. The Regulation aims to meet the need for a wider range of data for monitoring of the aquaculture sector and its production in recognition of its important role in the EU.

Under the terms of Article 11 "By 31 December 2011 and every three years thereafter, the Commission shall submit an evaluation report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the statistics compiled pursuant to this Regulation and, in particular, on their relevance and quality. This report shall also undertake a cost-effectiveness analysis of the system introduced to collect and draw up the statistics and shall indicate best practices to lessen the workload for Member States and enhance the usefulness and quality of the data." This report documents the progress made by Member States and EEA countries, together with the Commission, with respect to the provisions of this Regulation. Article 6 of the Regulation further required submission by Member States of a detailed methodological report stating how the data were collected and compliled. These include details of sampling techniques, estimation methods and data sources (other than surveys) and an evaluation of the quality of the resultant estimates. The information supplied by Member States in their asessments forms the basis of this report.

The cost effectiveness of aquaculture data collection was assessed (with other statistical domains) under Eurostat's cost-effectiveness analysis for fields covered by the Community Statistical Programme 2008-2012[3]. Information for the analysis was collected using a questionnaire to all the Member States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland through the Working Group on Programming and Coordination in September 2010.

2. coverage and content

The regulation requires submission of data in four areas including;

(a) the annual production (volume and unit value) of aquaculture;

(b) the annual input (volume and unit value) to capture based aquaculture;

(c) the annual production of hatcheries and nurseries;

(d) the structure of the aquaculture sector.

Data are required annually except in the case of structure information (production methods) which is every three years. The first year for which data were required to be transmitted (the reference year) was 2008 and was to be received by Eurostat by31 December 2009. The Regulation allowed the possibility for Member States to delay implementation or to obtain a derogation from some or all of its requirements. Seven Member States were granted a transitional period to implement the new Regulation (CZ, DE, EL, AT, PT, PL, and SI) and will supply data for the reference year 2011 and beyond. Three Member States (AT, CZ and LU) have been allowed derogations until 31 December 2012 to either supply no information (in the case of LU) or to supply only estimates for some data categories instead of comprehensive validated statistical data.

2.1 Data collection and sources

In the majority of Member States, data are collected through complete census of registered aquaculture producers using annual postal or electronic questionnaires. Registration of aquaculture production businesses is a requirement of EU animal health legslation[4]. Non response rates are reportedly generally low in many Member States and it is relatively simple for authorities to follow up data providers. Some Member States report making use of administrative information from industry sources. Collaboration between veterinary offices and fisheries departments in cross checking register details and returns occurs in a number of countries.

2.2 Data collection systems in the Member States

Not all Member States collections are described here due to transtional arrangements in place and derogations from Regulation being in place for some.

Belgium

In view of their relatively low production, Belgium are currently required to supply only summary estimates as permitted under Article 3 of the Aquaculture Statistics Regulation. A methodological report for Belgium has yet to be provided.

Bulgaria

The Bulgarian National Agency of Fisheries and Aquaculture (NAFA) maintains the national register of aquaculture premises and requires businesses to keep a log of sales to make monthly sales declarations and to provide such statistical data as are required on statistical information forms. Data sources are regularly cross checked against each other for validity and late data (>30 days) followed up. Data are also verified by NAFA inspectors at the time of inspection visits.

Cyprus

The Department of Fisheries and Marine Research (DFMR) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment are responsible for aquaculture statistics in Cyprus and data submission is mandated by national legislation. Data collection is mainly through a statistical census which is supplemented by site inspections and interviews with managers or owners of aquaculture enterprises. Additional information is obtained from approvals for the stocking of ponds or raceways, from details of exports supplied via the Government Veterinary Services and on fish feed imports. These various sources are cross checked against each other and discrepancies followed up by the DFMR Aquaculture Division.

Denmark

The Danish Directorate of Fisheries within the Ministry of Agriculture collects data via annual reports and statistical questionnaires from commercial aquaculture production facilities. The coverage of the industry is complete and no sampling techniques are employed. Data are recorded on the aquaculture register maintained by the Directorate of Fisheries. Quality is ensured by checking completeness of returns and through a number of other validation methods. Particular attention is paid to the data on production quantity and value. Denmark have highlighted a particular problem with collection of data on hatcheries and nurseries in numbers and so liveweight figures with approximate conversion factors were supplied for 2008 and 2009. Along with other Member States Denmark have also flagged problems with definitions for juveniles and suggest that differences in definitions between member states may inflate hatchery and nursery figures.

Estonia

Statistics Estonia is responsible for the collection and publication of aquaculture data. Data collection is through a survey of all active aquaculture facilities. The survey covers commercial production, breeding, sales and intermediate production and consumption. Not all variables required by the Aquaculture Regulation are collected with some on production of hatcheries and nurseries by species needing to be estimated. Data are cross checked against the Ministry of Environment's restocking data and information published by the aquaculture industry. Discrepancies are followed with the data supplier by telephone or email. However access to micro data for cross checking is inhibited by confidentiality restraints. Non response rates are low, just 6 percent in 2008, and overall data quality is considered to be high. Estonia has identified a particular issue with double counting of production sold between farms. Whilst considerable efforts are devoted to excluding these sales, it is recognised that there is further room for improvement.

Ireland

The Irish Sea Fisheries board (Bord Iascaigh Mhara) is responsible for data collection and submission to Eurostat. Responsibility for data quality falls to the Research Planning and Evaluation Unit of the Irish Sea Fisheries Protection Authority. No methodological report for Ireland has yet been submitted. However, operational contacts are ongoing.

Spain

The sub-Directorate General for Statistics of the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM) is responsible for aquaculture data collection and processing and works in cooperation with the Autonomous Community of Andalusia (for marine aquaculture) and the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (all aspects of aquaculture) MARM retains the competence for data collection for the other autonomous regions. Data collection is via survey questionnaires and through interviews. Data are screened for consistency with previous years' submissions and discrepancies followed up with the data provider.

The majority of data are collected through a survey of aquaculture facilities and coverage of the Spanish industry by this is complete and the reliability of the survey is considered to be good by the Spanish Authorities. Additional stratified sampling of mussel producers in Galicia is carried out. Spain has identified a particular problem with attributing prices and accurate conversion factors (numbers of individuals to tonnes liveweight) to wild caught inputs to the production cycle. No factor has been identified for gastropod molluscs.

France

In France data collection and processing is performed by the Directorate of Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, Rural Affairs and Planning. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics is also involved in data processing and forwarding these to Eurostat. Data collection is through a comprehensive annual postal survey of both commercial and noncommercial aquaculture production. No national register of aquaculture units currently exists and various sources are used to maintain a list of those involved particularly industry bodies. Non responses are followed up and for the most significant businesses data may be collected through a telephone survey. Missing data are augmented by substituting data from similar premises in the same geographical area. Data validation involves outlier searches, internal cross referencing of data and comparisons with earlier submissions.

Hungary

In Hungary the Department for Natural Resources in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is the main body responsible administering the aquaculture industry and the Research and Information Institute for Agricultural Economics is responsible for data collection and processing. Data are collected annually via postal questionnaire. In addition to the production, stocking and structure data required by the legislation, data on angling from fish ponds are collected reflecting the relative importance of this activity. Data are validated on input by comparing against set minima and maxima for each species and age class. The relatively small statistical population makes it possible to follow up any discrepancies by phone. Hungary has now compiled several years of data on their systems which allows for comparability checking between years. Interregional comparisons are also made. Hungary report that their data collection and analysis systems are adequate for current needs.

Italy

The Ministry of Agriculture (Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali) is responsible for coordinating aquaculture data collection on regional basis. An annual census of all registered aquaculture entreprises is conducted to collect the required statistical data . No estimations are made. Some questions of interpretation of the latter regulation have been highlighted by Italy including differences in the concept "production" in the Regulation (EC) 762/2008 compared to its predecessor. Questions were also raised on various definitions of production methods and on 'potential capacity' of aquaculture structures.

Latvia

The Central Statistical Bureau collects data on all economically active aquaculture enterprises including on marketing production (volumes and values), production for stocking purposes, structural information and employment data. The Department of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for ensuring data consistency and reporting to the European Commission. Coverage of the industry by the questionnaire is complete and no estimation is made. No particular shortcomings of the Latvian systems have been identified.

Lithuania

The Fisheries Department (Aquaculture and Inland waters Division) of the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for primary data collection and validation. This is compiled and disseminated by the Lithuanian Department of Statistics. Data are collected through biannual postal surveys with discrepancies being followed up by phone. No specific estimation techniques are used and the data are reportedly of high quality.

Malta

The Agriculture and Fisheries Unit within the National Statistical Office is responsible for aquaculture data collection and sending data to the European Commission. This is carried out through an annual questionnaire which covers fish stocks, marketings (inputs and outputs), intermediate consumption and structural information. The Maltese industry is relatively small comprising just six farms, five of which specialise in tuna fattening. Data returns are intensively scrutinised and cross referenced with information on live fish sales and international trade. The main problems reported by Malta relate to the small size of the sample population and in particular on form filling burdens and respecting data confidentiality.

Netherlands

The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Fish Products Board and Central Statistical Office are involved in the collection and processing of aquaculture data. Shellfish production (mussels and oyster) is most important economically for the Netherlands however the majority of enterprises are small and many are experimental. Data are obtained from a variety of sources including the Dutch Association of Fisher Farmers, the Mussels Office of the Fish Products Board and the Dutch Association of Mussels Producers. Aquaculture Producers are registered with the Fish Products board and supply data via questionnaire. Production and price data for mussels for both aquaculture and capture fisheries are taken from auctions. However data for each production type are identified separately and so there is now no double counting or misreporting. Production data for oysters originates with the administrative bodies. Statistical returns for fish farming are checked against reported capacity of production units and against sales of feed.

Romania

In Romania aquaculture data collection and processing is the responsibility of the National Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture (NAFA). All aquaculture units are registered and licensed. The register records both administrative information and details of the production methods, unit structure and main species cultivated etc. Information on production volumes and values and product uses are collected on a monthly basis. Data are collected by regional NAFA Offices and compilation, validation and dissemination is carried out centrally.

Slovak Republic

The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic is responsible for data collection, processing and dissemination. Data collection is by a postal census of certified aquaculture producers. The coverage of the census is complete and no estimation is performed. Any anomalies in census returns are verified by telephone. The Slovak Republic reported a particular problem with regard to their trout production. This tends to be in ponds with a high refreshment rate which does not accord well with the definition of ponds under the Aquaculture Regulation.

Finland

In Finland, collection and treatment of aquaculture data are the responsibility of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute. The data are collected via statistical questionnaire sent to all production units on the Aquaculture Register. Non responses are routinely followed up and in some cases these may be targeted through an additional telephone survey. For 2009 responses were received from 76 percent of registered premises, and estimates of the remainder are derived by stratifying the results and applying strata specific coefficients. Prices applied are average first sale prices compiled by the Institute.

Sweden

The National Statistical Institute is responsible for collecting, processing and compiling aquaculture data and for transmission to the European Commission. This is carried out on behalf of the Swedish Board of Fisheries. Data are collected through an annual postal census which gathers information on production (volume and value), production environment and methods and industry structure. Non responses and discrepancies are followed up with data suppliers by post (dispatch of replacement questionnaires) and by telephone interview. The non response rate is low and all the most significant producers are accounted for and so the data are considered to be substantively complete. Processing errors are considered to be insignificant.

United Kingdom

In the UK aquaculture statistics are collected separately by each of the regional governments: The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (CEFAS) in England and Wales; Marine Scotland Science (MSS) in Scotland and the Department for Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in Northern Ireland. The UK aggregates are compiled by CEFAS. The data do not include information for the Channel Islands or Isle of Man. In England and Wales, data are collected by staff of the Fish Health Inspectorate during inspection visits which are carried out on a rolling basis. In Scotland data collection is from an annual questionnaire sent to all registered production units and in Northern Ireland postal notices are sent to aquaculture producers to request information in the format specified in the Annexes to the Aquaculture Regulation.

For fish there is reportedly good cooperation with the industry and coverage of returns approaches 100 percent. Data on shellfish is also considered to be complete but some definitional problems remain including the inclusion of areas seeded with mussel spat (larvae). No volume data are estimated but a range of sources are used to estimate prices.

EEA Countries

Iceland

The Iceland Directorate of Fisheries of the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture is responsible for collecting and processing aquaculture data. Statistics Iceland is responsible for sending the data to the European Commission. Data are collected through an annual electronic questionnaire which requires information on production and sales, production methods and environment and unit structure. Production units under the same business are required to report separately. Data are cross checked in cooperation with the Icelandic Veterinary and Food Administration, which also require all aquaculture premises to be registered. Data suppliers are contacted to supply missing information or to correct anomalies. Coverage of the questionnaire is complete and no sampling techniques are employed. Whilst a variety of cross checking methods were employed, as the data collection system has only been recently implemented it is not possible to make a definitive statement on data quality.

Norway

The Directorate of Fisheries' Department of Statistics with Statistics are responsible for data collection and publication. Quality assurance and submission to the European Commission is by the Directorate of Fisheries. Under national legislation all commercial and research aquaculture producers are required to submit data required by the government. Five distinct paper questionnaires are completed according to production type and species produced. Quality checks are carried out on receipt of data and also secondary validation is carried out during processing.

2.2 Data Quality

The majority of data providers report comprehensive coverage of the industry and good data quality. Few countries highlight specific issues with data quality. Iceland have highlighted that their data collection system is new making it difficult to accurately gauge data quality but like many they note that they are striving for continuous improvement. The data provided on production can be compared with data provided under the previous aquaculture regulation (see Annex) and it is therefore possible to objectively judge the quality of the reports submitted. Those submitted to Eurostat are compliant with Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) data standards and definitions which allows basic checks against the data schema to be performed when the data are received. More sophisticated 'second level' validation is being developed by Eurostat which will check consistency of data across years and detect any outliers and to check internal data consistency, for example whether species reported are compatible with the declared production environment and method. Overall at the aggregate level the consistency of data between years appears to be good. However, at the more detailed production type and species level, this breaks down in many cases, for example with differences in the species being reported for some Member States. This may in part be due to reporting of genera or groups of species in some cases rather than detail at the species level. Data on egg production for human consumption are missing in some cases where there is anecdotal evidence that this is carried out, for example in Italy.

For the data on production of hatcheries and nurseries at the aggregate country and species group level the data for the majority of countries look sound and are consistent between the two years for which data have been provided. Consistency at the individual species level is much less good but likely reflects improvements in the accuracy of reporting and lessons learned. There is an apparent use of more generic species codes in 2008 particularly for the reporting of molluscs. However in some cases data accuracy appears to have declined, for example the range of species covered has decreased, notably for Romania who reported only on diadromous fish production in 2009. Denmark have been only able to supply information in weight (kilos) rather than millions of individuals and is looking to rectify this issue.

Some large differences exist between years for some countries, for example the United Kingdom who reported large falls in production of both eggs and juveniles. A number of Member States, notably Germany and Denmark have requested clarification of the definition of juveniles in the Regulation. This is not explicitly defined but is taken as the same as for the FAO aquaculture questionnaire i.e. larvae, fingerlings, juveniles, etc. As regards detail of use of production of hatcheries and nurseries which is provided optionally, the great majority of Member States provided at least partial information.

With regard to data on input to capture based aquaculture, Spain have reported a particular problem with conversion factors for numbers of individuals to live weight and have declared that for some molluscs no reliable figures exist. This affects data in 2008 (the first reference year studied).

As regards data on the industry structure is supplied every three years and because of this, it is more difficult to validate by comparison with other years. Some data have been collected by FAO and whilst not complete, particularly for years predating the revised Aquaculture Regulation, it has been possible to check some of data for consistency with these reports. In a number of reports there have been internal inconsistencies in the report for example where production method is inconsistent with the declared species or unit supplied is inconsistent with production type. Queries on structure data quality are still outstanding with some Member States and this is preventing publication.

A number of Member States reported confidential data which has affected publication of complete data. A protocol for dealing with confidentiality in aquaculture statistics (confidentiality charter) is being developed in cooperation with Member States and this will allow more effective data management by Eurostat in future as well as ensuring preservation of statistical confidentiality.

3. use of the data (data dissemination)

The reports of Member States are made available free of charge through Eurostat's dissemination database at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/search_database. Data are also published in Eurostat Pocketbooks, most recently 'Agriculture and fishery statistics - Main results - 2009-10' (ISBN: 978-92-79-20424-1).

4. Main findings: analysis of the results

21 Member States and Norway provided information for Eurostat's cost-effectiveness analysis for fields covered by the 2008-2012 Community Statistical Programme. Of the countries not providing aquaculture data under transitional arrangements, more than half assessed the burden of responding to Eurostat as being low with the remainder assessing the burden as being medium. As not all Member States are currently sending data, a more detailed cost benefit analysis would not be useful at this stage. This information will be requested from Member States through the Working Group on Fisheries Statistics and their respective methodological reports.

In addition to the Aquaculture Statistics Regulation, there are a number of other EC requirements for collecting and providing information on the aquaculture sector and for which a monitoring and reporting infrastructure will already have been established. This partially explains why the statistical reporting burden isn't seen by Member States as being particularly heavy. The Aquaculture Statistics Regulation also covers many of the same parameters requested by FAO in their own aquaculture questionnaire. FAO are content to accept the same information as sent to Eurostat which avoids duplicate reporting.

The EC requirements include the development of registers of aquaculture enterprises for animal health purposes (as noted earlier) and economic and biological information provided under the EC Data Collection Framework (DCF) Regulation[5]. The DCF requires some submission of production and structure data however these are different in scope and coverage to the data collected under the Aquaculture Statistics Regulation.

Summary results of the statistical data collection are presented in the Annexes to the report. Data on EU aquaculture production in the years since introduction of the Aquaculture Statistics Regulation is available for all Member States as those allowed a delay in implementing the Aquaculture Statistics Regulation continue to supply data required under its predecessor (Regulation (EC) No. 788/96 and also to the FAO. In 2009 the volume of production in the EU amounted to nearly 1.3 million tonnes, 77% of which came from marine areas: 52% from the Atlantic and 24% from the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

Four countries, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Italy accounted for more than 66% of EU production in 2009. Spain with production of over 268 thousand tonnes (22%) made the major contribution followed by France, over 236 thousand tonnes (21%), the United Kingdom, nearly 197 thousand tonnes (15%), and Italy, more than 162 thousand tonnes (13%). Norwegian production at nearly 962 thousand tonnes, is equal to more than 74% of total EU production.

In 2009 molluscs (mainly Mediterranean and Blue mussels) accounted for more than half of total volume of the production. Of the marine fish cultivated, Atlantic Salmon, Gilthead Seabream and European Seabass were the most significant in terms of production volume, and Trouts and Common Carp the most important freshwater species.

A number of Member States report economically significant production of fish eggs for human consumption totalling just under 1,000 tonnes for those countries reporting with a value of more than 22 million Euros. Production of trout eggs accounted for nearly 98% of production by volume but less than half of the value of production. Production of sturgeon caviar although less than 2% of production made up more than half of the total reported value.

Information on capture based aquaculture was provided for eight Member States. The most significant species are mussels (Blue Mussel and Mediterranean Mussel) and Bluefin Tuna.

Information supplied on production of hatcheries and nuseries in terms of volume by country, largely follows that for overall production, with Spain and France being the most important producers.

In most of the concerned Member States, the Ministry of Agriculture (or related bodies) rather than the National Statistics Institute is in charge of the aquaculture statistics.

5 conclusions and recommendations

As a number of Member States are still operating under transitional arrangments for implementing Regulation (EC) No. 762/2008 a comprehensive evaluation of the costs and benefits associated with producing the data has not been possible at this time. A more detailed evaluation will be conducted at the end of the transitional period under the auspices of the Working Group on Fisheries Statistics. This will be requested as an augmentation to methodological reports. Member States currently rate the burden of compliance as being low to medium.

In their reports the majority of Member States provided a sufficiently detailed account of their methodologies for an assessment of these to be made. Most are conducting an annual postal census with complete coverage of commercial production. Relatively little estimation is involved in production of the figures.

As not all Member States are yet supplying data under the Aquaculture Statistics Regulation, it has not been possible to compile full figures for the EU for aquaculture data except for production. A number of Member States have encountered issues with collecting the full data in compliance with the new requirements when implementing their data collection systems but are addressing these in consultation with Eurostat and as part of their own processes of continuous improvement. Data quality at the aggregate level appears to be quite high for production data and for input to hatcheries and nurseries for Most Member States, however this is less good at the more detailed level and more needs to be done to ensure data consistency in the future. Specific problems with definitions for stages in lifecycle need to be addressed.

There are outstanding issues with data quality for some Member States particularly for structure data. These are being addressed bilaterally with Member States. Eurostat are currently involved in implementing new information systems which will flag up quality problems early and allow them to be more speedily rectified and the data published. For structure data, some ae supplied annually to FAO between years where Eurostat collect data and these reports should be used to cross check the Eurostat structure reports.

Eurostat are developing a 'Confidentiality Charter' through a Task Force of Member States' experts. This will define how data will be treated by Eurostat to preserve confidentiality and how data may be shared within the Commission services and other interested bodies including the FAO.

Annex - Tables and charts

Table 1 : Total Aquaculture production - excluding hatcheries and nurseries

Chart 1 : EU Aquaculture production by FAO major fishing area - 2009

Chart 2 : EU Aquaculture production by species group - 2009

Table 2: EU Input to capture based aquaculture

Table 3: EU Production of hatcheries and nurseries

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Table 4 – Structure of the EU industry in 2008

[1] Regulation (EC) No 762/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 788/96: OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 1–13.

[2] Council Regulation (EC) No 788/96 of 22 April 1996 on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture production: OJ L 108, 1.5.1996, p. 1–7

[3] Decision No 1578/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2007 on the Community Statistical Programme 2008 to 2012 (OJ L 344, 28.12.2007, p. 15–43).

[4] Council Directive 2006/88/EC of 24 October 2006 on animal health requirements for aquaculture animals and products thereof, and on the prevention and control of certain diseases in aquatic animals (OJ L 328, 24.11.2006) and Commission Decision of 30 April 2008 implementing Council Directive 2006/88/EC as regards an Internet-based information page to make information on aquaculture production businesses and authorised processing establishments available by electronic means (OJ L 138, 28.5.2008, p. 12–20).

[5] Council Regulation (EC) No 199/2008 of 25 February 2008 concerning the establishment of a Community framework for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries Policy - OJ L 60, 5.3.2008, p. 1–12.