In 2023, aquaculture production in the EU was almost 1.1 million tonnes of live weight (1.08 million tonnes in 2022), valued at EUR 4.8 billion, according to Eurostat. Aquaculture involves farming of fish, mollusks, algae and crustaceans.

The three largest EU producers of farmed aquatic organisms were Spain (242,754 tonnes; 23.1% of the EU total), France (186,561 tonnes; 17.8%) and Greece (140,908 tonnes; 13.4%).

Between 2008 and 2023, the volume of EU aquaculture production remained relatively stable at around 1.1 million tonnes. This reflected contrasting developments in key producer countries; aquaculture production in Greece grew relatively steadily, in Spain, it declined sharply compared with 2018, and it remained relatively stable in France after 2018.

Main species: Trout in terms of value, mussels in terms of live weight

The production in the EU is focused primarily on finfish such as trout, seabream, seabass, carp, tuna and salmon, and mollusks, including mussels, oysters, and clams. Together, these accounted for most of the aquaculture production by weight in 2023.

Slightly more than a third of the EU’s total aquaculture production in live weight were mussels (34.5%), followed by trout (15.8%) and gilthead seabream (10.0%).

Trout was the most valuable species produced in 2023 (17.7% of all aquaculture value), followed by seabass (13.3%) and gilthead seabream (12.0%).