The Centre for Fisheries, Environment and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) has launched a new online regulatory toolbox for the aquaculture industry in England.
The toolbox has been designed to support new start-up aquaculture businesses, through a single portal giving access to all the information required to set up a farm from scratch.
In developing the toolbox, Cefas has brought together widespread guidance on regulatory requirements for new aquaculture businesses in England for the first time, covering both existing sectors and those that are just emerging.
“Factors such as concerns about food and nutritional security, a growing population and increasing demand for healthy products are all drivers in increasing production of farmed seafood,” said Cefas aquaculture development officer, Keith Jeffery.
“This project aims to simplify and streamline the start-up procedure for businesses in England, and is a useful step towards supporting the development of the aquaculture industry.”
The project will be in two phases. Phase one provides a summary of emerging and existing aquaculture sectors, a quick-look guide and 13 sector specific PDFs that outline the main regulatory and environmental assessment requirements and provides the links and contacts required for each area.
Phase two will take place in 2016 and 2017 and will build on this work by providing clarification on other regulatory areas and processes.
The toolbox is hosted on the Seafish website.
