Introduction

WP1 develops and sets up the methodology that will be used to assess the competitiveness of European aquaculture and fisheries sectors. The methodology, which will use both macro-economic and micro-economic data as a basis, will build upon the methodology used in the Fishery Competitive Index which breaks down competitiveness into 3 major themes (Creating stability, Stimulating environment and Competence of the industry). The assessment methodology will be extended to cover aquaculture production and it will be revised to strengthen areas of product development, value chain management, marketing and innovation. The result will be a comprehensive index for fisheries and aquaculture competitiveness (FACI). On a disaggregated level, the index can be used to benchmark individual producers within a given sector. On an aggregated level, the index can be used to compare the competitiveness of sectors in different countries (as the original FCI work did) or different production sectors in the same country. The index will be computerised for data exploration in WP2 and WP3 and for modelling in WP5. An online resource will be created that allows for self-assessment. The outcome of the WP will be an adapted and updated methodology for the assessment of the competitiveness of aquaculture and fisheries (SO1).