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Recirculation Aquaculture Systems – Positions of the Organic Sector (ÖkoKlaStu)
Project
Project code: 2815OE026
Contract period: 20.09.2016
- 19.06.2017
Budget: 68,596 Euro
Purpose of research: Inventory & Assessment
The ambition to increase aquaculture production in Europe, lowering dependency on seafood imports, is heavily affected by the lack of suitable sites, both in marine and freshwater environments. This is mostly because of stakeholder conflicts (e.g. tourism, environmental protection). The only viable strategy, therefore, appears to foster so-called recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS), highly technified indoor production systems that permits to control externalities such as nutrients, water, biosafety issues etc., but at the prize of heavily increased production costs. For this reason, and for the need to compete with imports from „traditional“ aquculture systems, further development and growth of RAS aquaculture in Europe seems highly dependant on a clear communication of it‘s sustainability advantages over „conventional“ aquaculture in ponds or net cages. Therefore, it is relevant to explore the option of an organic certification, for RAS, or a specific subset such as aquaponic systems. This project aims to clarify the positions of relevant actors and stakeholders within the European organic sector towards RAS. Background is that the current EU Regulation on Organic Products (EC) No 710/2009) does not permit to label such products as „organic“, but is requiring „more information“ on this option. This project will (1) gather existing approaches towards similar systems in organic farming (e.g. greenhouses, poulty&pig husbandry, urban gardening) from literature, (2) prioritize those approaches by guided interviews with stakeholders, and (3) develop and discuss the different options for the organic sector to deal with RAS (e.g. introducing RAS to the EU Organic Regulation, developing (a) private label(s) without direct link to organic production etc.).
Section overview
Subjects
- Organic Farming
- Recirculation systems
Framework programme
Federal Organic Farming Scheme and other forms of sustainable agriculture (BÖLN)
