World Aquaculture December 2018

64 DECEMBER 2018 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S.ORG T he Mediterranean is an intercontinental sea enclosed between Europe to the north, Africa to the south, and the Near East to the east. It covers an area of approximately 2,512,000 km 2 and includes the Marmara Sea but not the Black Sea. It has an average depth of 1,500 m and a maximum depth of 5,150 m off the southern coast of Greece (Cardia and Lovatelli 2007). The Mediterranean is almost a completely closed water basin where the continuous inflow of surface water from the Atlantic Ocean is the sea’s major source of water. The entire water volume of the Mediterranean requires over a century to be completely renewed through the 300 m deep Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean coastline is approximately 45,000 km (Cardia and Lovatelli 2007). The Mediterranean Sea is experiencing an unprecedented “Blue Gold Rush” under the combined effects of several key factors including the Blue Growth Strategy of the European Commission, which aims to support the sustainable growth of maritime sectors; trade development between Europe and Asia which leads to growing international maritime traffic; the fast development and multiplication of offshore oil and gas contracts; and, the growing middle-class underpinning global tourism growth (Piante and Ody 2015). The EU Blue Growth Strategy aims to support sustainable growth in all marine and maritime sectors. Marine aquaculture is one of the promising sectors for the next 15 years. Marine Fish Farming in the Mediterranean The most commonly farmed marine species in the Mediterranean Sea are the European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax and the gilthead seabream Sparus aurata (Cardia and Lovatelli 2007). The total global aquaculture production of seabream plus seabass in 2016 is estimated at 372,809 t (APROMAR 2017). The total production of all EU countries in 2015 were 82,527 t for gilthead seabream and 68,780 t for European seabass (EUMOFA 2017). For both species, aquaculture production from Greece represents 66 percent of the EU total. The total value of seabass and seabream in the EU was €858 million in 2015. European seabass are produced using a large variety of aquaculture facilities and techniques. They are traditionally cultured in lagoons, where wild fingerlings are collected during seasonal migration from the sea into lagoons and then reared in closed basins using extensive or semi-extensive methods ( vallicoltura in the Northern Adriatic lagoons). The European seabass and the gilthead seabream are now intensively reared in ponds, tanks, raceways and cages (Cardia and Lovatelli 2007). Marine cage culture in the Mediterranean area expanded rapidly in the mid-1980s, mainly in Spain and Greece, when an increasing number of farms started producing European seabass and gilthead seabream (Cardia and Lovatelli 2007). These species are currently the most widely cultured fish in cages in the Development Trends of Albanian Marine Aquaculture of Gilthead Seabream and European Seabass Rigers Bakiu, Edmond Hala and Arjan Demiri Mediterranean. Production has progressively increased over the last 20 years, with an average annual growth rate of 17 percent. In 2004, the cage production of these species accounted for approximately 85 percent of the total production (Cardia and Lovatelli 2007). The most common market size range for both species is 300-400 g. In cage farming this weight is achieved in 12-18 months for gilthead seabream and 15-20 months for European seabass, when the production cycle commences in the spring and fingerlings of 2-4 g are used (Cardia and Lovatelli 2007). Controlled reproduction of European seabass was first achieved in France and Italy in the mid-1970s. In the early 1980s, fingerlings of gilthead seabream were successfully produced. In 2002, the total European seabass and gilthead seabream fingerling production in the Mediterranean was estimated to be about 650 million (Stirling Uni- versity 2004). The joint production of seabream and seabass juveniles in the Mediterranean area in 2016 (excluding Egypt and Tunisia) was 1,278 million, an increase of 17.2 percent compared to 2015. The main fingerling producing countries are Turkey (465 million), Greece (436 million), Italy (124 million), and France (119 million). The consumption of European seabass and gilthead seabream in the EU is increasing and traded volumes have increased by an average of 6 percent in recent years (EUMOFA 2017). Gilthead seabream and European seabass account for over 20 percent of the total value of EU aquaculture production. For both species, Greece is the major producer, followed by Spain. The main market for European seabass and breams is Italy, where the increase of aquaculture production value was marginal, as it has been quite steady since 2011 (EUMOFA 2017). Imports of seabass and seabream to Italy increased 30 percent from 2010 to 2016. Greece was the major supplier, accounting for 50 percent of the imported volumes in 2016, which was down from 75 percent in 2010. Turkey was the second largest supplier with 24 percent (up from 10 percent in 2010) and was followed by Spain with 9 percent (up from 3 percent in 2010) and Croatia with 7 percent (up from 4 percent in 2010) (EUMOFA 2017). Aquaculture Development in Albania Albania is one of the 19 sea-facing nations of the Mediterranean, with a population of 2.9 million habitants in 2017 and a GDP of US$12.5 billion according to World Bank data (WBA 2018). The transition to a market economy and abundant international aid over the years have helped Albania make economic progress and the country grew from the poorest nation in Europe in the early-1990s to middle-income status in 2008, with poverty declining by half during this period (WBA 2018). Given the country’s abundant water resources, climate, biological potential and socio-political factors, prospects for developing aquaculture in Albania seems to be high. Economic directives of the earlier political system had encouraged the development of carp polyculture in Albanian inland