Three areas set out for fish farming
The government has selected three regions for the integrated development of aquaculture, in a long-overdue regulation to help the battered fish farming sector in Greece.
Following coordination by the deputy ministers for the environment, Dimitris Economou, and agricultural development, Fotini Arabatzi, presidential decrees will be issued concerning the licensing of new fish farming units, thereby allowing new investment in the sector. Of course another 19 presidential decrees are pending for as many regions, as this process has been postponed several times.
The draft decrees completed by the two ministries concern the aquaculture regions at Oxia (in the Ionian Sea), Cephalonia and Halkidiki. Sources say studies for determining two more fish farming areas at Thesprotia and Echinades, both in the Ionian Sea, are at an advanced stage. To date only one aquaculture region has been set out, at Pieria in Central Macedonia, which concerns the cultivation of mussels.
The decrees are necessary for the sector, as there can be no licensing for new fish farming units until they are issued.
