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integrated nature of salmon production. Similarly, Landcatch Natural Selection, a UK based selective breeding company was bought in 2011 by Hendrix Genetics, a global, multi-species breeding company that has focused on pigs and poultry. The difference in the structure between different culture operations mean that is not possible to describe the marine biotechnology infrastructure associated with the sector as a single set of of interconnected structural elements. It is the case that biotechnology has developed in association with culture activities so that there is evidence of clustering of companies and operations around areas where aquaculture is an important sector, e.g. West coast of Scotland, Norway, and Galway in Ireland etc. The marine biotechnology infrastructure and technologies in the aquaculture sector are mainly focused on at raw material sourcing, R&D, and up-scaling/production. These operations have generally emerged from the aquaculture sector and it is only more recently that wider biotechnology companies are seeing the potential of aquaculture as a blue application of existing technologies. Universities and other academic institutions play an important role in the development of techniques and products and many of the advances are the result of fruitful collaboration between industry and academia that is often further enhanced by public as well as private investment. Socio-economic performance of the aquaculture sector Globally the increase in human population and limited scope to increase the total wild capture fish yield mean that there is likely to be increasing demand for products from EU aquaculture. In addition to the overall picture, the EU is globally the largest net importer of farmed seafood with average per capita consumption of fish across the EU of around 23 kg per year. Some 1.27 million tonnes of farmed seafood products were imported in 2007, four times the volume in 1999 and double the volume in 2004. Available data show a growing gap – estimated at 8 million tonnes – between the level of consumption of seafood in the EU and the volume of captures from fisheries. Aquaculture has been identified as one of the principal means of meeting the deficit in EU seafood demand and supply. The potential for EU aquaculture to meet this deficit is uncertain. While Europe is ranked third in terms of aquaculture production by continent, it is providing only 3.6% of total production196. Added to this, EU aquaculture has been relatively stagnant in volume terms; from 2001 to 2008 EU production growth averaged only 0.5% APR compared to 7.5% for all non-EU countries combined. Currently the EU accounts for only 2% of global aquaculture production and 10% of the EU seafood market supply. Aggregate figures however conceal a 20% growth in marine production over the same period. There are currently eight EU countries with annual aquaculture production values over EUR100 million (France, UK, Italy, Greece, Spain, Denmark, Holland and Germany) that together account for 81% of Community production. The EU has committed to a set of Strategic Guidelines for the sustainable development of EU aquaculture197 that are intended to support the future development of the sector. As one of the pillars of the EU’s Blue Growth Strategy198 it is a sector that can be expected to receive additional support. 196 Hall, S. (2011) Blue Frontiers. WorldFish Center 197 http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/aquaculture/official_documents/com_2013_229_en.pdf 198 COM(2012) 494 150 Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology

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