Commentary on Italy's international seafood trade and its impacts

Abstract

Being within a geographical area, EU-27, which imports a large proportion of the fish products consumed annually from abroad, Italy finds itself in a particularly critical situation; domestic production from fishing and aquaculture on the whole accounts for only 20% of consumption and even less in the case of crustaceans and cephalopods. Despite its strong dependence on foreign countries, per capita consumption is quite high, at 31 kg/y in recent times; furthermore, among the imports from abroad there is a large number of species (or their families) mostly obtained through fishing. A wiser exploitation of national fishing resources, a greater development of domestic aquaculture and consumption patterns relying less on wild fish and shellfish are desirable.