34. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support the experimental farming of native species, technologies for the production of healthy fish and efforts to combat diseases occurring in aquaculture, in the interests of diversifying Community aquaculture production, so that it can offer high-quality and high added-value products, by encouraging research and exchanges of best practices on those species and on the production methods concerned, in order to enable aquaculture products better to compete with other innovative food ...[+++] products;

34. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support the experimental farming of native species, technologies for the production of healthy fish and efforts to combat diseases occurring in aquaculture, in the interests of diversifying Community aquaculture production, so that it can offer high-quality and high added-value products, by encouraging research and exchanges of best practices on those species and on the production methods concerned, in order to enable aquaculture products better to compete with other innovative food ...[+++] products;

It is also appropriate to simplify the certification procedure for fishery products and live bivalve molluscs and, for consignments intended for human consumption, to incorporate the animal health certification requirements set out in Commission Decision 2003/804/EC of 14 November 2003 laying down animal health conditions and certification requirements for imports of molluscs their eggs and gametes for further growth, fattening, relaying or human consumption , and Commission Decision 2003/858/EC of 21 November 2003 laying down animal health conditions and certification requirements for imports of live fish, their eggs and gametes intended for farming, and live fish of aquaculture ...[+++] origin and products thereof intended for human consumption

It is also appropriate to simplify the certification procedure for fishery products and live bivalve molluscs and, for consignments intended for human consumption, to incorporate the animal health certification requirements set out in Commission Decision 2003/804/EC of 14 November 2003 laying down animal health conditions and certification requirements for imports of molluscs their eggs and gametes for further growth, fattening, relaying or human consumption (6), and Commission Decision 2003/858/EC of 21 November 2003 laying down animal health conditions and certification requirements for imports of live fish, their eggs and gametes intended for farming, and live fish of aquaculture ...[+++] origin and products thereof intended for human consumption (7).

22. Notes that information on the sentience of fish has gradually accumulated over recent years and notes that the common fisheries policy includes a strategy for the sustainable development of European aquaculture, highlighting the need to improve the welfare of farmed fish; welcomes the Council of Europe recommendations on the treatment of farmed fish, and looks forward to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) welfare guidelines for farmed fish; expresses concern over the impact of international trade in ornamental fish, ...[+++]which can lead to over-harvesting of popular species, damage to fragile coral reef environments through the use of the non-selective technique of sodium cyanide to capture fish and high degrees of mortality of fish associated with insensitive shipping and poor farming practices along the supply chain; considers that, if managed properly, the aquarium industry could support long-term conservation and sustainable use of coral reefs; therefore urges the Commission to consider what steps can be taken to reduce these problems;

Aquaculture, and in particular mollusc and cage culture, can be a part-time additional revenue for fishermen or an alternative for workers displaced from the fisheries sector, as marine aquaculture needs employees skilled in working in and from a boat.