Production of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture

If you wish to use alien or locally absent species in aquaculture, you must comply with certain rules. Information on these rules can be found below.

Overview
The use of alien or locally absent species in aquaculture generally requires a permit pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 7 08/2007 of 11 June 2007 concerning use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture (the Aquaculture Regulation).
Aquaculture includes freshwater fish farming, mariculture, longline mussel production, seaweed farming etc., see definition of aquaculture. However, some alien and locally absent species are exempt from the permit requirement, see species that require a permit for use in aquaculture.

Open aquaculture facilities must apply for a permit for use of alien and locally absent species, as described in the following. Aquaculture facilities that are characterised as closed aquaculture facilities according to the Aquaculture Regulation are exempt from the permit requirement for the use of alien and locally absent species, see closed aquaculture facilities.

Definition of aquaculture
The Aqaculture Regulation refers to the definition of aquaculture found in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1198/2006 of 27 July 2006 on the European Fisheries Fund: 

“The rearing or c ultivation of aquatic organisms using techniques designed to increase the production of the organisms in question beyond the natural capacity of the environment; the organisms remain the property of a natural or legal person throughout the rearing or c ulture stage, up to and inc luding harvesting” 

The Regulation does not apply to the stocking of put -and-take lakes. However, please pay attention to legislation regarding the release of animal species into the wild, whose current natural distribution does not include Denmark. You can inform yourself here (Danish content).

Species that require a permit for use in aquaculture
Species native to Denmark do not require a permit under the Aquaculture Regulation. If you wish to produce alien or locally absent species in aquaculture, it is necessary to obtain a permit pursuant to the Aquaculture Regulation. However, some species are exempt from the permit requirement. These species are listed in Annex IV of the Aquaculture Regulation. Notice, however, that the use of alien species listed in Annex IV must be assessed according to the Danish Nature Conservation Act § 31(1).

A description of how to apply for a permit can be found further down the page.

The Environmental Protection Agency has developed a species list as a guide, where you can see whether selected species are considered native or alien, and which permit the use of a given species requires.

See the list here (continuously updated).

If you wish to use an alien or locally absent species that is not included on this list, you must contact the Environmental Protection Agency at Obfuscated Email, ATT: Virksomheder.

Open aquaculture facilities
The Aquaculture Regulation demands a permit for import to and use of alien and locally absent species in open aquaculture facilities. Open aquaculture facilities include freshwater fish farming, mariculture, longline mussel production, seaweed farming etc.

Closed aquaculture facilities
Closed aquaculture facilities do not need a permit for production of alien and locally absent species. However, to allow an assessment of whether a given facility can be classified as closed, the Environmental Protection Agency must be informed before initiating the production. This is done at Obfuscated Email, ATT: Virksomheder.

The criteria that define a closed aquaculture facility are as follows:

“A land-based facility: where: aquaculture is conducted in an aquatic medium which involves recirculation of water; and (ii) discharges do not connect in any way to open waters before screening and filtering or percolation and treatment to prevent the release of solid waste into the aquatic environment and the escape from the facility of farmed species and non-target species that might survive and subsequently reproduce;

and which:

(i) prevents losses of reared specimens or non-target species and other biological material, including pathogens, due to factors such as predators (e.g. birds) and flooding (e.g. the facility must be situated at a safe distance from open waters following a proper assessment made by the competent authorities); (ii) prevents, in a reasonable way, losses of reared specimens or non-target species and other biological material, including pathogens, due to theft and vandalism; and (iii) ensures appropriate disposal of dead organisms;”

View the list of closed aquaculture facilities in Denmark that produce alien or locally absent species (continuously updated).

Application
If you wish to produce alien or locally absent species in aquaculture, including Pacific oyster and Japanese carpet shell, you must submit an application along with a dossier following the indicative guidelines of Annex I of the Aquaculture Regulation. The application material is sent to the Environmental Protection Agency at Obfuscated Email, ATT: Virksomheder.

Applications and permits
You can view the Environmental Protection Agency’s historical register of applications and permits for the introductions and translocations of alien and locally absent species, as well as the associated metadata, through the following links:

Historical register of applications and permits (Danish, updated continuously)
Metadata associated with the applications (Danish, updated continuously)

Useful links
You can search for all aquaculture facilities here
Summary of the Aquaculture Regulation
Commission Regulation (EC) No 535/2008 - implementation of the Aquaculture Regulation
Commission Regulation (EC) No 506/2008 - amendment of Annex IV of the Aquaculture Regulation

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