ITALY
feed, water, and taxes are all higher in Italy,� he says, “in addition, the time it takes to get all the permissions necessary to build, make it very difficult to plan strategically.� Furthermore, fish grown off the African Mediterranean coast reaches market size in 12 months (seabream) and 14-15 months (seabass), while in northern Italy it takes 16-20 months for seabream and 20-24 months for seabass. This is due to the severity of the winter in Italy when the fish do not grow. To offset this farmers try to put their fish in the water as early as possible, to avoid two winters before the fish can be harvested.
Seabass and seabream fry a commodity Today says Mr Santamaria there are seven hatcheries in Italy. The Italian market for fry is limited as production of seabass and seabream has been stable for several years. Independent fry producers therefore have to find markets overseas for their production. Although fry from Italy has a good reputation generally, the ability to cheaply and reliably transport fry across long distances in trucks means that in the Mediterranean it is increasingly a commodity,
Acquacoltura Jonica s r.l. Viale Jonio, 156 Loc. Sabbione San Vito - (Ta) Italy Tel/Fax +39 099 733 29 63 acquacolturajonica@libero.it acquacolturajonica@ acquacolturajonica.it www.acquacolturajonica.it
with a more or less standard price. Companies like Acquacoltura Jonica that have a mix of customers both domestic and
Director: Dr Marco Notarangelo President: Francesco Santamaria Activity: Production of seabass and seabream fry Volumes: 5-6m fry, due to double to 10-12m in 2015 Markets: Italy, Albania, Tunisia
international, high quality and a good reputation will be the ones to benefit from these developments.
Family cooperative hoping to expand from mussel to ďŹ sh farming
Mussels from Taranto The market for bivalves is well established in Italy, where certain regions have a long history of bivalve production and they are widely consumed in many parts of the country. Production is both from farming and from capture though the volumes obtained from farming clearly dominate the supply. In 2012 according to ďŹ gures from FAO farmed bivalve production amounted to 111,000 tonnes, while that from capture totalled 28,000 tonnes.
M
ussel production in Italy cannot meet domestic demand so mussels are also imported mainly from Spain and Greece. The imported product is used not only to supply
the domestic market but is also re-packaged and re-exported. Domestic mussel production is mainly in the regions of Puglia, Emilia Romagna, Veneto, and Sardinia. Campania, Marche, and
Cosimo Panariti, the owner of Delfino, one of the companies in the cooperative. www.eurofishmagazine.com
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Liguria also produce significant quantities, while Friuli Venetia Giulia has a small production. Most of the main production areas are located on the Adriatic coast. The cultivation is both in
the lagoons and in the open sea, usually on lines. Italy is the third largest market for mussels in Europe after Spain and France. The most common product form is fresh live mussels, but frozen,
Domenico Panariti, the nephew of Cosimo Panariti and the president of the Duomo Soc. Coop which is the trading arm of Delfino Soc. Coop. Eurofish Magazine 6 / 2014
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