News

SEAFOODplus and CONSENSUS work together for sustainable aquaculture

A Coordinated Action, CONSENSUS, supported by a grant from the EU was initiated in 2005 with 20 partners from 9 countries. SEAFOODplus participates in the project and is represented in the Project Steering Committee. The aim is to develop production protocols for sustainable aquaculture and to communicate information about sustainable aquaculture to the consumers. All major organisations and associations within aquaculture production are partners in the project, which will be running until the end of August 2008. A stakeholder meeting is being arranged in Ostende, Belgium, 24-25 April 2008.

Author: Torger Børresen, DTU Aqua, Denmark

: ©Torger Børresen

The full name of the Coordinated Action CONSENSUS is ‘Multi-stakeholder involvement towards protocols for sustainable aquaculture in Europe’.

The objective of CONSENSUS is to establish validated protocols for sustainable European aquaculture systems that respond to the needs of the consumer, the supply chain and the environment and which will be developed through the implementation of a dedicated platform that unites the representative stakeholders.

A successful platform for European sustainable aquaculture requires access to, and the involvement of, the main stakeholders – producers, scientists, consumer representatives and other NGOs – uniting the expertise that is needed. The targeted inclusion of these stakeholders, according to their area of interest, involvement and experience, constitutes the most solid base for development of the protocols envisaged.

Structurally and conceptually, a platform uses legs or pillars that give support to its surface. Although CONSENSUS is the European sustainable aquaculture platform, its multi-stakeholder approach - where flexibility and cross-over points are needed, particularly where interlinking subjects (including cause and effect) provide the core subject matter – is more of a matrix.

The Coordinated Action is therefore based on a ‘matrix approach’ in order to provide flexibility while maintaining efficiency. The matrix is made up of four distinct layers:

Ø Aquaculture production systems;

Ø Input factors directly affecting sustainability;

Ø Output parameters affecting sustainability and consumer perception

Ø Factors creating a favourable environment for sustainability

CONSENSUS started 1 March 2005 and will continue for 3½ years.
The Coordinator is Director Alistair Lane, European Aquaculture Society.

Members of Project Steering Committee are:

Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP)

European Mollusc Producers Association (EMPA)

European Feed Manufacturers' Federation (FEFAC)

European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC)

European Bureau for Conservation Development (EBCD)

Test Achats/Test-Aankoop and Euroconsumers

Ghent University, providing links to the ASEM aquaculture platform

DTU Aqua – SEAFOODplus

A multi-stakeholder workshop, held in Oostende, Belgium in November 2005 brought together 110 representatives from 16 countries to identify and agree on the desired status for each production sector of European aquaculture over the next 5 years, and the specific indicators that can be used to measure progress towards those objectives.

A total of 78 indicators were developed, covering the five major European aquaculture segments as well as the post harvesting sector (i.e. the processing and packaging industry), were brought together in themes and published in a workshop report.

The Federation of European Aquaculture Producers has produced a document that links the CONSENSUS indicators which can be implemented at the farm level with an updated Code of Conduct for the finfish sector.

CONSENSUS consumer scientists and organisations have brought together existing information on the benefits, safety and risks of seafood consumption as well as on consumer behaviour, attitudes and preferences towards seafood. New consumer messages concerning aquaculture are also being developed and tested in European countries.

As the project draws to a close, a final workshop is being organised to update participants on the utilisation of the indicators that stakeholders developed at that workshop and to take part in discussions on building on the momentum that CONSENSUS has created. This workshop will take place in Ostende, Belgium, 24-25 April 2008. The workshop is by invitation only and invitations are based on the participants of the first workshop.

Download fact sheet about CONSENSUS