Red hot
salmon producers, why can’t we be the barramundi producers?
“If Norway and Scotland are the
staff, centre employees and other aquaculture stakeholders. One of the most pressing challenges was to
improve the licensing system, ‘to address a bottleneck caused by a lack of proper process’, said Cardia. ‘People were dropping in at the ministry with one piece of paper saying ‘I want to do cage aq- uaculture, give me a site’. But now they have to go through a procedure, set up by the Aquaucl- ture Department with the technical support of the FAO.’ Cardia’s team developed forms for each step of the licensing process, devising a technical and economic feasibility model for small and medium enterprises that can be used by inves- tors to make an analysis of the risks. ‘It’s not a gold mine that you put money into and get three times the money back. It’s risky, so they have to understand there’s a bit of homework they need to do first and then get the right consultancy from experts who can support them throughout the licensing process and the project implementation.’ The FAO has also established a regional aq- uaculture information system (RAIS), adding all the site selection criteria available and creating a map of suitable areas for cage aquaculture. ‘It is another very useful and relevant tool that
can help the ministry see where sites can be found, where to concentrate the farms, and it’s important for investors too,’ said Cardia. There is not an overcrowding problem in the
Red Sea, with only about five cage farms sited there at present, but there are other issues.
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com 45
‘There is a lot of space but there are concerns about the impact cages will have on the Red Sea ecosystem,’ said Cardia. ‘We have tried to iden- tify areas to keep a buffer distance from reefs but also there are other users who can make life quite hard.’ Principal among these is the coastguard authority, who seems to exercise considerable influence over the shoreline and the coastal activities. ‘Every day, operators need to get clearance
”
from the coastguard and they may simply not allow you to go in the sea even if you have to feed your fish,’ said Cardia. ‘There is a subjective component in the coast- guards’ clearance to leave the harbour that
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