National Strategic Plan for Aquaculture 2021-2030

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is currently finalising the Flemish part of the National Strategic Plan for Aquaculture (NSPA) for the period 2021-2030. This plan is drawn up in the context of the Regulation on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) for the period after 2020.

Member states wishing to provide support from the EMFF for the development of a sustainable aquaculture sector must ensure that the support is in line with the NSPA. The draft should therefore be considered as a strategic document for targeted financial support for onshore and offshore aquaculture.

Strategic steering committee

The draft text has already been submitted to the Strategic Steering Committee for Aquaculture of the Flemish Aquaculture Platform. This initiative is led by the Department for Agriculture and Fisheries and aims to promote and develop the Flemish aquaculture sector.

One of the steering committee’s tasks is providing input when policy plans are drawn up. Blue Cluster sits on the Strategic Steering Committee for Aquaculture, and we delivered relevant notes on the draft in this capacity.

Input from Blue Cluster

Blue Cluster ensures that the new NSPA takes into account the individuality and needs of marine aquaculture, because in the past, the plan was mainly written from the perspective of onshore aquaculture.

Furthermore, the 10-year period is too long for a strategic plan for a sector in full development. For this reason, we advocate a stronger link with the 6-yearly review of the Marine Spatial Plan.