Fish farming in the Mediterranean has increasingly shifted from producing fish such as grey mullet, which are herbivores near the bottom of the food chain, to species such as sea bass, which are predators. This ‘farming up’ the food chain requires wild fish to be caught to provide feed. A return to farming fish lower in the food chain would use marine resources more efficiently

Mediterranean fish farming changed from predominantly cultivating shellfish and herbivorous fish, to producing mainly seabream and seabass, which prey on other fish. This shift from farming species lower in the food chain to species higher up is known as ‘farming up the food chain’. This has implications for fisheries, as small fish are caught to produce feed for the farmed fish, with a direct impact on wild fish stocks. More recent formulations of feed have, however, substituted some of the fishmeal and oil with plant material, in an effort to reduce the need for wild fish.

The aquaculture industry in the Mediterranean area has grown tremendously since its inception, almost forty years ago. Total aquaculture production including all categories and species has increased from 487,488 tonnes in 1995 to 1,228,457 tonnes in 2007. During the same period production of marine fish species has grown from 61,024 tonnes to 436,401 tonnes, while production of molluscs has decreased slightly from 184,944 tonnes to 174,385 tonnes. Consequently, the share of marine fish species in overall aquaculture output has risen from 13 percent in 1995 to 36 per cent in 2007 while the share of molluscs has dropped from 38 per cent to 14 per cent during the same period while the share of freshwater species production has remained the same at 48 per cent of total aquaculture output.

Egypt, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Greece are the main (inland and marine) producing countries. The average annual growth for the period from 1985–2006 for marine and brackish water aquaculture is estimated at 7.6 per cent. This compares to capture fishery production which was about -0.67 per cent, during the same period, thereby confirming its stagnating situation (FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Statistics and Information Service [FIPS], 2009). 

The development of the industry was facilitated by geography (as well as ideal growth conditions, temperatures and physiochemical parameters) and proximity to viable markets. The presence of research institutions was also vital in order to overcome early technical problems. Clearly countries with a beneficial geography and subsidies grew very fast to prominence: the main drivers were no conflicts for space and access to capital. The comparative advantage of EU countries was clearly: 1) proximity to market and 2) a valued national product (justified preference since in addition to freshness there’s an ease of ordering from customers, they can order practically the same day). Producing countries can roughly be divided into levels of development of the activity with the following countries having:

Large and/or organised industry:

• Greece;
• Turkey;
• Spain;
• France;
• Italy;
• Cyprus;
• Malta; and
• Egypt