At FVE, we are delighted to highlight and celebrate the important work of every one of our members.
Here is a special interview with Alain Schonbrodt about his dedicated involvement in the Aquaculture Advisory Council. This commitment is a great example of how veterinarians contribute to policy discussions and represent the profession at the EU level.
Dr Alain Schonbrodt is a Belgian veterinarian (ULiège, 1977) specialising in aquaculture, animal welfare and cattle farming. He was an expert at the Council of Europe on animal welfare since 2003 till 2018, a member of FVE’s Aquaculture Working Group since 2013, Editor-in-Chief of Veterinaria, the journal of French-speaking veterinarians in Belgium, and the president of the “Aquaculteurs de Wallonie”, the Walloon fish farmers’ association.
What is the Aquaculture Advisory Council (AAC) and why is it important for veterinarians to follow its work?
The AAC is an advisory committee largely funded by the European Commission to produce assessments and recommendations for the Commission and Member State governments.
It is composed of around sixty members, approximately one third of whom are animal welfare and/or environment’s representatives, while the others represent breeders’ associations and professions with an interest in the development of aquaculture; the FVE is one of the members of this latter group.
The AAC is called upon to suggest ways forward for EU aquaculture. It must also evaluate (and possibly criticise) certain European standards applied to aquaculture and the use of subsidies allocated to this sector. This mission is very important when one considers the growing lag of EU aquaculture compared to third countries, due mainly to the complexity of the legislation and administration of the EU and Member States.
As illustrated in the figures below, global aquaculture production has grown significantly over the past two decades, rising from 43.3 million tons in 2000 to 94.4 million tons in 2022, while European aquaculture has remained relatively stable over the same period. In contrast, capture fisheries have held steady globally but nearly halved in Europe since 2000, highlighting a stark divergence between European and global trends in seafood production.).
World capture fisheries and aquaculture production (FAO)
European fisheries and aquaculture production (Eurostat)
What are the most important dossiers currently being discussed within the AAC?
It covers many crucial topics, such as the impact of aquaculture on the environment, farmers’ access to the production areas and conditions necessary for their development, and many subjects where veterinarians are called upon as experts, such as animal welfare and health, the use of medicines, etc.
Sustainability is also an important topic, which includes animal welfare. Another important issue, which largely stems from this, is competitiveness in relation to third countries that do not apply the same rules on environmental protection, the use of medicines, animal welfare, social rights, etc. However, we import more than 90% of the aquaculture products consumed in the EU. Can you imagine discussing the welfare and slaughter of crustaceans and molluscs, issues that are not touched upon yet in third countries?
Another crucial problem is how to protect our fish from predation by protected wild animals that are proliferating (cormorants, herons, otters, etc.). This predation represents a loss of 15 to 100% of the stock, depending on the site and the year.
To safeguard the competitiveness of EU aquaculture, we must address the competitive distortions between Member States and with third countries.
How do you see the role and added value of veterinarians in these discussions, and what impact can our profession have through this platform?
Our role is essential in analyzing EU standards on animal health and public health, including the impact of aquaculture on the environment. WG 3 (finfish) is led by a veterinarian, Dr Andrea Fabris.
Actually, as a representative of the FVE, I am in charge of proposing recommendations to the AAC to amend the new animal health law, the implementation of which over the last three years has caused an explosion of viral aquatic diseases throughout the EU. Our training enables us to compare certain disastrous health policies in aquaculture with the much stricter and more effective requirements for land animals. No one would dream of allowing live animals from confirmed outbreaks of BTV, HPAI, FMD, ASF, etc. to be placed on the market, but in aquaculture, the Animal Health Law (Regulation 2016/429) authorizes the sale of live fish that are known carriers of notifiable viral diseases.
The use of the cascade is also a constant concern, as veterinary drug treatments are very complex and limited in aquaculture. For example, our education in therapeutics, pharmacology and toxicology helps the AAC to clearly identify the specific problems due to the administration and distribution of drugs within the current EU legislative framework.
