The potential of aquaculture sole production in Europe: Production costs and markets

Sole is a high-value flatfish species that is highly favored in many European markets. Nowadays most sole comes from capture fisheries; however, wild supply has been decreasing because of decreasing catches due to stocks overexploitation. Due to its high price and declining landings, as well as a desire by farmers to diversify their operations, there has been an expansion in sole aquaculture production in recent years and there are ambitious plans for further growth. In this paper we assess the potential for sole aquaculture in Europe using raceways. This is done by analyzing the production costs of sole farms and the price evolution in European sole markets.