The institutions comprising the Aquaculture Industry (HAPO, FGM, PANEMMI) hail the initiative taken by Ms. Fotini Arampatzi, Deputy Minister of Agricultural Development and Food, in taking a stance in consolidating the aquaculture sector.
Her letter, addressed to the Coordinators of Greece’s 7 Decentralized Administrations for the proper registration of operators inaquaculture units – which is being done for the first time – demonstrates exactly the political initiative we need in order to boostthe healthy entrepreneurship of our sector.
More specifically, Ms. Arampatzi requests the recording of unit operators, who have either halted their operations, are under-operating at less than 30% of their capacity, or sublet aquaculture units to third parties without informing the competent authorities, violating the terms and conditions of the current institutional framework (Law 4282/2014). We believe that this action, to be carried out with the needed cooperation of the Coordinators, paves the way toward the termination of relevant lease agreements, which do not comply with the Law.
We must stress that the existence of the so-called “zombie” companies can no longer be tolerated, and we express once again our intention to assist the State, in every possible way, in its effort to eliminate any distortions; Distortions that have plagued the industry for a number of years and are tied to fish farms, which, for any number of reasons, are inactive, under-operate, or illegally lease their licenses, thus causing economic, environmental and even societal detriment.
We, at HAPO, hail the Deputy Minister’s decision, and commit to supporting the Ministry’s political leadership by putting all our efforts toward the healthy development of the aquaculture industry, which plays a central role to the nation’s growth, as it affects 12,000 employment positions, directly or indirectly, it leads the country in exports, makes advances toward innovation and sustainable development, and contributes greatly to local communities and the national economy.
