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The original founder members of the Federation were the national producer Associations of France, Belgium, Germany and Italy who, following a meeting in Geneva in 1968, created the 'Federation Européenne de Salmoniculture' (the European Federation of Salmoniculture) which was incorporated in France. At that time, the major species concerned by the activities of the Federation was trout, principally the portion-size (+/-300 g.) product. Additional trout-producing nations of importance are now represented by Denmark, Spain and the United Kingdom.
As salmon farming developed in capacity, the FES expanded to include, particularly, the Nordic countries of Norway, Finland and Sweden. Additional representation of this sector was obtained with the membership of the Associations of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands.
In 1994, recognising the growing importance of seabass and seabream farming in the Mediterranean, the FES changed its constitution to be able to include all aspects of European aquaculture under its umbrella and became the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers, known colloquially as the FEAP. Since that time, the National Associations of Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Turkey and Malta have become adhered to the FEAP.
In 1995, the applications of the Associations of the Czech Republic and Poland (Trout) were accepted by the Assembly, representing the first Associations from Eastern Europe to become members of the FEAP.
The most recent members of the Federation are
- the Hungarian Fish Farmers Association, HFFA
- the Portuguese Fish Farmers Association, ANAQUA
- the Croatian Chamber of Economy, Aquaculture Unit
- the Maltese Fish Farmers Association
At present, the FEAP numbers 28 different Associations from 23 European countries whose representatives regularly address the numerous issues that affect the professional production sector, providing valuable information on a national and regional level on the manner in which European aquaculture is being operated and developed
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