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Figure 0.30 Aquaculture production in Europe by country in 2010 Support to the sector will help meet the current gap and also to address the expected increase in seafood consumption that is predicted over coming years across the majority of EU Member States199. The products from EU aquaculture activities are also in demand in other parts of the world. Export from the EU tends to focus on niche and value-added products (e.g. organic salmon and smoked salmon) and exports only represent a small proportion of the value of imports (estimated at 8% in 2006200). However, combined with expected trends in global demand for seafood, this suggests that there is considerable potential for expansion. Role of SMEs in the aquaculture sector Most marine biotechnology applications are related to the inputs to aquaculture – seed and feed - with some additional efforts related to disease detection and prevention. Within the aquaculture sector SMEs dominate the bivalve and freshwater aquaculture sectors, including many family owned enterprises. By comparison, intensive marine cage-culture sectors have seen more rapid consolidation as a result of a combination of economies of scale and higher value products201. Vertical integration is increasing, but specialisation is more important for high technology activities, especially selective breeding programmes and more advanced food processing. There is a strong role for SMEs in the R&D field, especially as, with the exception of feed companies, the aquaculture companies tend not to have large R&D budgets or capability. As with other industries, marine biotechnology SMEs can be disproportionately affected by red tape, with regulatory and administrative costs up to ten times higher for SMEs than for large companies in the general economy202. 199 Failler, P. Future prospects for fish and fishery products. 4. Fish consumption in the European Union in 2015 and 2030. Part 1. European overview. FAO Fisheries Circular. No. 972/4, Part 1. Rome, FAO. 2007. 204p ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/ah947e/ah947e03.pdf 201 e.g. Bostock et al. (2010) 202 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/business-environment/administrative-burdens/ 200 Framian (2009) Review of the EU aquaculture sector and results of costs and earnings survey. Part 1 of the Definition of data collection needs for aquaculture report. FISH/2006/15 Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology 151

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