Black sea aquaculture: Legacy, challenges & future opportunities

Citation

Massa F, Aydin I, Fezzardi D, Akbulut B, Atanasoff A, Beken AT, Bekh V, Buhlak Y, Burlachenko I, Can E, Carboni S, Caruso F, Dağtekin M, Demianenko K & Deniz H (2021) Black sea aquaculture: Legacy, challenges & future opportunities. Aquaculture Studies, 21 (4), pp. 181-220. https://doi.org/10.4194/2618-6381-V21_4_05

Abstract
Responsible aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, is a sustainable strategic sector for land and coastal communities. It significantly contributes to food security and enhancement of economic development; it provides employment opportunities and often contributes to the ecological services provided by the environment. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the contribution of aquaculture to the global food security is widely demonstrated by an astounding industry growth of 7.5% per year since 1970. In 2018, aquaculture reached the all-time highest production of 114.5 million tonnes in live weight with a total farm gate sale value of USD 263.6 billion. This makes aquaculture a key player within the Blue Growth concept and a strong contributor to some of its key Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This is particularly true in geographical areas where dependence of local economies on fishery products is high, and yet access to sustainable landings is hampered by ecological barriers. One such area is represented by the Black Sea basin. Whilst the Black Sea annual capture fishery production has varied considerably since 1990 and its current landings are significant, growing attention is currently given to boost aquaculture development along the Black Sea bordering countries, with marine aquaculture being considered as an important contributor to the total fisheries production. Nonetheless, aquaculture development in this region is not homogenous and its development has, so far, been limited by environmental, economic, social, and more generally governance issues. This paper, for the first time, attempts to provide a comprehensive fresh outlook of the aquaculture sector in the Black Sea, stressing the importance of regional cooperation as an essential pillar to support the sustainable development of the industry. The paper addresses aquaculture in the Black Sea from different perspectives: it outlines the key characteristics of the Black Sea environment; it discusses the most common farmed aquatic species and the potential for new ones; it frames the national approaches to aquaculture development, sharing information about success stories, while shedding light on the main challenges and priorities ahead. This collective endeavour will represent a helpful contribution to Black Sea riparian countries to answer the many questions they have, and expectations they hold from the aquaculture sector.

Keywords
Black Sea; Aquaculture; Marine spatial planning; Stock enhancement; Diversification

Notes
Additional co-authors: Dilek Fidan, Linda Fourdain, Marco Frederiksen, Archil Guchmanidze, Housam Hamza, Jessica Harvey, Magda Nenciu, Galin Nikolov, Victor Niţă, Muhammed Doğan Özdemir, Elitsa Petrova-Pavlova, Gabriel Popescu, Ferit Rad, Şafak Seyhaneyildiz Can, John A. Theodorou, Behnan Thomas, Nicolò Tonachella, Ekaterina Tribilustova, Irina Yakhontova, Ahmet Faruk Yesilsu, Güzel Yücel-Gier

Journal
Aquaculture Studies: Volume 21, Issue 4

• Published version