beit at a much slower rate than production from saltwater (FAO, 1996).
     Aquaculture in saltwater has seen a spectacular rise in output since the mid 1970s, when farming salmon in sea cages began to develop in Norway, Scotland and Ireland. Salmonid finfish production now dominates the saltwater sector, overtaking mollusc production in 1995. The success of increasing output from the salmon industry has been tempered by a collapse in prices in the early 1990s, in turn leading to government intervention such as the destruction of smolts and feed quota systems introduced in Norway in the mid 1990s (Anon., 1996). Besides salmonid production, other higher value species of saltwater finfish such as bass, turbot, sea bream, cod and halibut are now being intensively farmed in European seas, lagoons and purpose built tanks in coastal waters of the warmer southern European countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain (Tacon, 1997). The industry is still developing from a low base in the 1980s but produc­tion has risen rapidly, with for example sea bream and bass production growing annually by over 40% (315 tonnes to 17,000 tonnes) from 1984 to 1995 (FAO, 2000; www.fao .org/fi/statist/FISOFT/FISHPLUS.asp).  Production rose to 120,000 tonnes in 2001, most of which was exported from Greece to Italy and Spain, but the market for these fish has now expanded to other European countries.
     The main finfish species groups cultivated in the region are salmon and rainbow trout, with about 85% of total farmed finfish production (Eurostat and FAO). Salmonids freshwater cyprinids (mostly carp and eels) constitute the second major finfish species group cultivated in the region at around 12% of total farmed finfish production (Voronin and Gavrilov, 1990; Dushkina, 1994; Zaitsev, 1996). Pro­duction of mussels and oysters and other molluscs is still a major part of total aquaculture output in Europe. There has been a slow decline in output of molluscs since the mid 1980s driven by a combination of disease problems (Figueras et.al., 1996), changing consumer habits and com­petition from other aquaculture sectors. Europe is the lead­ing world producer of farmed turbot (100%), eels (99%), mussels (70%), sea bass and bream (68%), salmon (60%) and trout (54%).
     From a low base at the end of World War II, European mollusc production increased rapidly until the 1970s and then output has remained relatively static, with some evi­dence for a decline of about 4% in the past twenty years. Blue Mussel production in France illustrates this trend with output at 8,500 tonnes in 1950 rising to 47,000 tonnes in 1977, a level that is the average maintained since then (FAO FISHPLUS website). Mussels remain the dominant species in this sector (60% of total output), with oysters making up around 25% output and several species of clams the rest. The main mollusc production regions are in France (35% of total), Italy (26%), Spain (17%) and the Nether­lands (13%). Mollusc production makes up around 25% of the total monetary value of aquaculture in Europe (Tacon, 1997; FAO, 2000).

Institutions in aquaculture production in Europe
National organizations representing the aquaculture indus­try have grown rapidly since the 1960s in the Northwestern European countries, handling policy, advice, marketing and

research. Some of these, like the Fiskeoppdretternes Salg-slag in Norway are effectively production and marketing monopolies, but most others are NGOs independent of the industry. For producers there is a European wide organi­zation, the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers (FEAP), representing all national associations at EU level. In most Eastern European countries, aquaculture is usu­ally organized and advised by the Ministries of Agriculture and Food, with the exception of the USSR where it is in a separate Ministry of Fisheries. This state intervention is rapidly changing as private companies are beginning to gain market share within the Central and Eastern parts of EU-25.
     Public investment in fish farming has been and remains a major factor in the development of European aquacul­ture. In CEE, public funding has come via state intervention, whereas in other parts of Europe, state and EU subsidies and development programs have played a significant role in developing both the fresh and saltwater aquaculture indus­tries. Thus, although policy has historically been a driver of aquaculture development, state intervention is declining and markets are becoming more important drivers.
     Fish farming is now strictly regulated in Europe with a number of Directives and domestic legislation covering water use and pollution control, the use of disease control measure (including pesticides) and feed regulations. There are also rules and regulations relating to the processing and marketing of aquaculture products. There is a trend towards stricter regulation and monitoring that adversely affects small family-owned enterprises (Varadi et al., 2001).

2.7.3 Science and technology in aquaculture
Since 1945 major breakthroughs have been made in fish farming techniques, including:
•     The intensive hatching and rearing of sea fish in the southern countries
•     Control of density dependent fungal and bacterial dis­eases in finfish
•     Techniques for rearing salmonids in salt water
•     The development of fish food processing and supply, including better formulation, the development of spe­cialized feed and automatic feeding

These developments have enabled the spectacular increases in production seen in Europe over the past thirty years, especially in farmed salmonid and sea fish output (FAO, 2000). Most of this research and development has focused on high value finfish production, with far less work being done on mollusc and carp production, where production is mostly from units using traditional methods developed over centuries.
     However, now research in aquaculture has changed to helping production systems address environmental issues including:
•     Pollution of the sea caused intensive cage systems in coastal waters
•     Pollution of rivers and streams caused by trout farming units
•     Pesticide residues in fish flesh and the impacts of pesti­cide use in the marine and freshwater environment
•     The impact on marine ecosystems of large-scale supply