The impact of aquaculture economics expansion on marine water quality in the EU Region

Abstract

Water scarcity is a growing condition caused by climate change and human activity, and it influences and interacts with other stressors in freshwater and marine ecosystems, such as chemical pollution. Aquaculture production has a significant impact on the EU27 region's water stress and water contamination discharge levels. Therefore, the primary goal of this research is to examine how the aquaculture industry affects water contamination discharge in European Union developed countries (EU14) and European Union developing countries (EU13) from 1990 to 2023. Since the dependent variable's error terms are correlated with the independent variables, the endogeneity problem was solved with the use of robust least squares (RLS), two-stage least squares (2SLS), and ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators, which produced the major findings. According to the precise effect sizes, the aquaculture industry and gross domestic product are more important in determining water contamination discharge in developed EU14 countries than in developing EU13 countries. The precise magnitudes of the effect demonstrate that, compared to EU14 developed countries, water contamination discharge in EU13 developing countries is mostly determined by the use of hydrocarbons. However, as the precise magnitudes of the three estimators demonstrate, governance is more important in EU14 developed countries than in EU13 developing countries when it comes to controlling water contamination discharge. The authors advise policymakers to give policies targeted at improving the aquaculture industry's efficiency and green development top priority, especially in EU13 developing countries with unplanned aquaculture expansion and inefficient aquaculture industry outgrowth. The authors advise policymakers in the EU14 developed countries to take actions targeted at improving governance efficiency top priority.