As instructed the legal consultant participated in a joint mission which visited Cyprus in order to assist the Department of Fisheries in:
The mission team consisted of three consultants: Dr. J. Muir, team-leader, Dr. D. Baird, both from Stirling University (Scotland) and the author. The consultants visited several aquaculture sites, including fresh water fish farms (land-based and cage culture), marine fish farms (land-based and offshore cage culture) and hatcheries, both private and state owned. Discussions were held with several government agencies (central and local) whose activities might impinge on the development of aquaculture and vice versa, and with the fish farmers. In this respect, a meeting has been organised with the representatives of the fish farmers associations i.e. the Pancyprian Aquaculture Association and the Cyprus Fish Farmers Association. All discussions and interviews held proved to be most helpful. A list of the persons met is attached herein. (Appendix 1)
The author of this report undertook the first “exploratory” mission of the legal consultancy provided for by the project and was requested to:
The author of this report received most valuable inputs from the Department of Fisheries. Appreciation is accorded to the staff of many government agencies for providing abundant information and advice. Special thanks for the contributions of Mrs. D. Stefanou, Mr.G. Georgiou and the Director, A. Demetropoulos. Finally, the discussions with the fish farmers and their strong collaboration proved to be most helpful.
Aquaculture1 is a growing dynamic industry in Cyprus. It is considered as a potential tool for reducing Cyprus's dependence on seafood imports. It concentrates mainly on culture of seabass and seabream and to a lesser extent on trout culture, due to the increasing problems created by the scarcity of fresh water in the country. Marine aquaculture is still in its infancy, having a history of less than 10 years, fresh water aquaculture instead was initiated in 1969. The expansion of the sector will depend on a number of factors such as identification and assessment of economic opportunities, identification and availability of suitable sites, availability of necessary financing and perhaps most significantly, strengthening of a government attitude which is supportive of aquaculture.
The future development of all types and forms of aquaculture is limited physically for the following reasons:
surface water resources are restricted and it is difficult to receive a sufficient quantity and quality to support the type of fish which are to be farmed; fresh water aquaculture in reservoirs occurs only seasonally;
the coastline area which is only 296 km long is subject to competition with other forms of development and much of the suitable land area has already been allocated and zoned mainly for residential and agricultural purposes and tourism development;2
the coastal conditions do not always favour the development of marine coastal aquaculture.3
It follows that mainly the development of cage culture techniques in the territorial waters of Cyprus is most likely to enhance and ensure the future development of aquaculture.
Though the development of aquaculture activities is recent, the growth in Government permits and approvals required, officials to see, “hearings” to be held, forms to be filled out, studies to be done, threatens to discourage everyone who intends to establish a fish farm, whether it is in fresh water or in marine water. This situation is among others the result of Cyprus' laudable desire to protect its citizens and the environment.
2 See report prepared by the technical consultants, Dr. Muir and Dr. Baird (p.35)
The growth of governmental authorizations in Cyprus has been at the central and district levels and, since the Cypriot Government is starting to frame its environment policy and environment protection tools, this growth may increase if no effort is put into limiting these “red light tools”. In addition, as regards aquaculture, this activity is often considered as an enterprise compromising the environment, especially the aquatic environment.
The present report is devoted to authorizations and legal procedures for aquaculture. Since planning for aquaculture indicates that it could become an increasingly important industry1, appropriate steps should be taken to encourage fish farmers, both large and small. Special attention is also paid to the present requirements and obligations laying on the fish farmer by law for purposes of protection of the environment and more particularly the aquatic environment.
The table drafted hereinafter summarizes the authorizations required and legal procedures to be followed in order to engage in fish farming operations according to the existing suitable sites in Cyprus. It shows the legal framework in which aquaculture development is presently taken place. This is also an attempt to point out the main legal constraints in which fish farming operations develop.
REQUIRED AUTHORIZATIONS ACCORDING TO THE LOCATION OF THE FISH FARM
| Categories of suitable areas | Jurisdiction | Ownership of land | REQUIRED AUTHORIZATIONS | |||
| For the exercise of fish farming | Occupation of land | Use of water | Discharge of water | |||
| Outside foreshore | Cyprus jurisdiction | Land can be either privately owned Or government owned or owned by the Port Authority | An aquaculture licence is required in any circumstances and is to be issued by the DOF | 1. Planning permission is required for any development on land; issued by the Ministry of Interior or any person authorized thereto (N.B.: where a development action is undertaken on Government land, the Gov. body-owner is required to seek the advice of the TCPD). 2. Building permit is required for any construction on land, issued by the District Officer. 3. A lease agreement as appropiate. 4. Where government land is involved from which the sea has receded, then an approval is required from the Council of Ministers for the use of that land “use licence”. | Where seawater is used no authorization is required according to the present legislation. | |
| On foreshore | Idem | Idem | Idem | 1. Planning permission. 2. Building permit. 3. Lease agreement. 4. Foreshore permits issued either by the District Officer or Minister of Interior and under exceptional circumstances by Council of Minister. 5. Piers Licence in case of any pier, wharf or jetty on the foreshore and into T.W. | ||
| Landbased SBA (including foreshore) | SBA jurisdiction | Either privately (i.e. Cyprus citizens), SBA owned or owned by the British Ministry of Defence | An aquaculture licence is required and will be issued by the Fiscal Officer of the SBA | • The SBA administration adopted within its Area the Cyprus legislation regarding the occupation of land and the development of any activity thereon. It delegated the implementation of the laws and regulations to the Cypriot Authorities; • In addition, a business licence is requested. • Lease agreement N.B. No business licence will be issued by the SBA authorities unless there is a strong support from the Cyprus Governt. in favour of the F.T. | Absence of legislation - there is a Joint Board (Cypriot Authorities + SBA's administration) managing the allocation of fresh water resources | The discharge of any substance into the sea can be subject to the Fisheries Legislation. |
| Reservoirs and dams | Cyprus jurisdiction | Owned by the government or by the Water Village Authority | An aquaculture licence is required to be issued by the DOF | 1. Planning permission 2. Building permit in case of erection of tanks, cages, etc. 3. Lease agreement with owners of the dam/reservoirs and surrounding areas | 1. Licences under the Wells Law 2. Authorizations under the Water Laws and Regulations i.e. issued by the Council of Ministers and by the Irrigation Division in case the dam belongs to it. 3. As the case may be a “use licence” | The discharge of any substance into the dams/reservoirs can be subject to the control of Water Pollution Law No. 69/91. |
| Territorial Waters of Cyprus - 12 miles | Cyprus jurisdiction | Government Sovereignty | An aquaculture licence issued by the DOF | The following authorizations/consents required: 1. the Planning Permission - insofar a development inland is connected with the establishment of cages in T.W.; 2. the licence under the Piers Law where appropriate; (a lease agreement) | None | The discharge of substances into the waters of Cyprus would be subject to the Control of Water Pollution Law, No. 69/91 and the Fisheries Legislation |
| Port Authority Administration | Idem | A lease agreement to use the area including the authorization to put cages and fix nets by the Port Authorities is required | The lease agreement will cover this matter. | |||
| Territorial Waters of SBA - 3 miles | SBA jurisdiction | An aquaculture licence to be issued by the Fiscal Officer | • A lease agreement with SBA's administration including the authorization to introduce cages is required; • A business licence to operate FF. N.B. The SBA's Administration will not authorize the fish farmer to undertake his business unless Cyprus Government supports the activity. | Discharge of substance into the sea is subject to the Fisheries legislation | ||
2.1 The rapid expansion of the aquaculture industry and the aforesaid facts have given rise to a number of undesirable problems and constraints:
multiple use of resources by different development sectors: conflicts exist merely in the coastal areas with the growing tourist industry (hotel and restaurants); the scarcity of fresh water limits the possibility of development of fresh water aquaculture;
potential danger for adverse environmental impact possibly encroaching on resource use by other development sectors;
legal problems due to uncertainties as to the applicability of certain laws and due to the lack of a proper management structure which is responsive to the diverse commercial and recreational needs of the coastal area;
lack of recognition, within the local coastal plans, of opportunities for aquaculture and absence of any statutory decision making role of the Department of Fisheries in the final content of local coastal plans in relation to aquaculture.
2.2 The presently applicable legal and institutional framework allows for the following observations:
government approvals are, if not repetitive, certainly uncoordinated in many instances. This is a result of a fragmentation of the administrative authority and a case by case approach with respect to dealing with the applications whether related to the use of and access to land or the use of and access to water. For instance, the fish farming activities within the coastal areas, especially if located entirely or partially on the foreshore area, can be subject to concurrent authorizations issued by the Town and Country Planning Department of the Ministry of Interior, by the District Officer and the Council of Ministers;
the laws and regulations directly and indirectly governing aquaculture operations are often broadly phrased, leaving room for administrative judgement on their applicability to aquaculture uses. Inevitably, this situation can be bewildering and confusing to prospective aquaculturists;
a more general difficulty remains the uncertainty of many of the laws written before aquaculture became an important issue but which are now relevant to it;
the presence of several authorizations combined with several issuing authorities is likely to render it more difficult to obtain financing, to lease land, etc. since there is no advance guarantee that a development will be approved at each permit request stage;
in absence of appropriate education and training of some government officials, for instance, in EIA, in control of composition of effluents, and last but not least in aquaculture technologies, a risk exists for the fish farmers to be obliged increasingly to satisfy the requirements and questions of government authorities at the central, intermediate or local level, who are not professionnally/technically competent but nevertheless competent to deal with applications relating to the the establishment of a fish farm and with the planning of aquaculture activities;
the current environmental impact assessment and statement procedure (EIA or EIS) provided for within the Town and Country Planning Law, 1972 and the Control of Water Pollution Law No 69/91 does not prescribe the role and the functions of the government agencies which receive project approval requests nor the criteria to determine whether an EIA or EIS is required. Therefore, means for discriminating between projects is present and questions relating to the degree and nature of likely impacts are largely subject to professional discretion, and judgement on EIA and/or EIS applicability could thereby become a potential tool of one or more Government agencies either to enhance or to hinder aquaculture development.
2.3 Notwithstanding the above, so far the existing network of controls did not work against innovation nor did it have an inhibiting effect on a growing industry. Nevertheless, the uncertainty surrounding the environmental aspects and impacts of fish farming operations and the absence of (i) a coherent legal framework for environmental protection as a whole in which aquaculture operations should find a place as well as (ii) a coherent government policy in this regard for all worthy developments in the country (not the least of which is aquaculture) are impeding new aquaculture ventures.
3.1 Aquaculture development can be fostered by official recognition of the aquaculture activities as a legitimate branch of agriculture or of fisheries or sui generis. However, to gain such a recognition, aquaculture needs to acquire widespread public understanding and support. In addition, the Government should define a policy framework for aquaculture development in Cyprus;
3.2 Aquaculture in the coastal areas should not be isolated. It must be put in a wide context for the simple reason that it is one user in a range of users of the coastal zone which exercises an increased pressure on coastal zone resources. There is therefore an urgent need for an integrated management of the coastal zone. Hence, the solution of land-use problems in this zone requires careful planning, more so than in other areas of Cyprus. Again, careful planning needs prior knowledge of the area to be exploited. Thus, research and inventory of existing natural resources must precede resource planning, so that sensible exploitation of the resources AND conservation of the environment are ensured;
3.3 The competent government agencies should urgently explore and analyse the legal and administrative issues involved in leasing of the “seabed land” beneath the territorial waters and/or in the leasing of areas of these waters. Given the fact that marine cage culture is likely to develop increasingly, such analysis is most relevant. In the same sense recognized public rights of access to and use of coastal waters should be balanced by the recognition of the needs of the fish farmer for protecting investments;
3.4 The approval process should be streamlined: possibilities include the consolidation of permits relating to land use by developing a “master application form” and through time and experience, the government clarification of the nature and extent of fish farming activities exempt from permit and EIA and/or EIS requirements. Another possibility could be to secure common data requirements for obtaining approvals from competent government agencies that have legal authority over fish farming related activities within coastal/foreshore areas;
3.5 The fish farmers through their associations and the Department of Fisheries should continue to take the lead to contribute to the protection and conservation of the environment and more specifically of the coastal areas;
3.6 To ensure its viability and acceptability in Cyprus, aquaculture will have to develop within a legal and institutional framework which provides incentives and deterrents to decrease environmental degradation from aquaculture operations. Specific means are, for instance, :
to establish a licence system which enables the DOF at an initial stage to judge the feasibility and suitability of aquaculture projects which are submitted and to ensure a good management of fish farms at an operational stage;
to prescribe an EIA for all major aquaculture developments (installation stage) when an application is made to the DOF for an aquaculture licence as well as monitoring and control activities (operational stage) to ensure that the environmental impacts remain within the acceptable limits and that the fish farms are runned in a proper way etc.;
to define particular sites as appropriate or not for aquaculture activities; areas could be ranked from prohibited to suitable for aquaculture purposes according to the environmental capacity of these areas to sustain the development of aquaculture;
to provide appropriate rules for the use of chemical treatments such as antibiotics, or of other potential pollutants in fish farms;
to regulate discharges from land-based fish farms through the operation of a discharge consent or the implementation of effluent standards.
The environmental management system which will be adopted should not merely force the aquaculture developers to undertake the preparation of an EIA, EIS or other environmental statement as a bureaucratic chore but to think positively, at an early stage in their project planning, how adverse effects might be mitigated or avoided and what alternative sites - and alternative technologies - they should be looking at.
3.7 Clear and appropriate rules regarding aquaculture operations can certainly contribute to clarifying the image of aquaculture in Cyprus. In light of the above, the proposed new regulations, or new law, as appropriate, should provide for:
With regard to the environmental management of aquaculture, protection and conservation of the environment could be secured, amongst others, by following means:
It is not the intend to overregulate the aquaculture activity to the extent of handcuffing any aquaculture initiative. Instead, the legal framework for aquaculture need to be drafted in the light of the present size of the aquaculture sector and its potentials for future development.
Given the above, it would also be opportune to allow for some sort of preliminary assessment of the effect of fish farming projects on the environment by, for instance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources prior to formal submission of permit requests to the Town and Country Planning Department or other relevant authority. It could indicate to the fish farmer whether the project is likely to be approved and allow him to offer the Bank some guarantee that the project to be undertaken is believed to be acceptable and feasible.
3.8 One of the important features of the environmental management system discussed with the fish farmers was that they should contribute to the costs of monitoring and control of the water quality undertaken by the Government, i.e. the DOF, the only body having the technical capacity to deal with such activities. Therefore, it was thought that it could be appropriate to create a fish farming fund (provided for in future legislation) for the purposes of protecting, developing and managing fish farming activities. More particularly, it could contribute to, amongst others, (i) the establishment of the environmental impact monitoring system1, (ii) the indemnification of fish farmers suffering from heavy fish losses due to uncontrollable natural circumstances or other force majeure reasons, (iii) research activities, etc.. Such a fund could be financed by the collection of the fees paid for the issue of the aquaculture licence and of the levies paid for the use of feedstuffs, by donations and contributions, money originated by various activities of the “Fund's Management Committee” and of interest from savings or investments. It should also be managed and administered by a management committee constituted by government officials, such as the Director of Fisheries, the Ministry of Interior, and by representatives of the Pancyprian Aquaculture Association and the Cyprus Fish Farmers Association. However, it may be arguable that the size of the aquaculture industry in Cyprus does not justify the creation of such a fund.
3.9 In the light of the institutional framework governing aquaculture, it is recommended the following: whatever environmental management system is proposed and adopted in Cyprus, it is important that a clear link and relationship be established between the government bodies concerned and between the public and private sector in order to build up an efficient and suitable structure tailored for the needs of Cyprus and in order to realize in the long term a sound management of the aquatic environment.
3.10 Finally, there is an urgent need to develop a legal and institutional framework regarding the protection and conservation of the environment as such as well as to elaborate an integrated coastal zone management policy.
