The experience of the Aquaculture Sector through best practices and mitigation measures facing the COVID-19 crisis

The webinar on “the experience of the aquaculture sector through best practices and mitigation measures facing the COVID-19 crisis” took place on July 1 2020 and was conducted over the internet and hosted on the Zoom platform. It was organized by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in cooperation with the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI). The webinar aimed to address the pandemic’s effects on aquaculture production as well as on supply chains, demand, local markets and trade, and to identify best practices and mitigation measures adopted by aquaculture farmers and countries. During the first thematic session, the experts highlighted the difficulties faced by the aquaculture sector due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, several mitigation approaches were pointed out: i) specific financial support programmes designed through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF); ii) a strong national aquaculture strategy guaranteeing self-sufficiency along the entire supply chain of shrimp farming in Saudi Arabia; iii) the timely provision of subsidies and credit loans to help producers in Turkey; iv) the development of an online platform for fish auctioning to boost fisheries supply chain in Oman; v) the opening of direct communication channels between the government and the farms in the United Arab Emirates; and vi) solidarity between the sector and the consumers, which allowed for the achievement of 50 percent of trade and marketing goals for the fish feed and larvae industry in Tunisia. Other topics addressed during the second thematic session included specific measures, such as the focus on different aquaculture final products (e.g. frozen fish) and the establishment of local hatcheries and fish feed factories. The question and answer session that followed concluded the webinar.