The overall theme for this year’s Aquaculture Europe was “Aquaculture for everyone” held in Valencia. Spain is a good choice, considering it’s diverse aquaculture sector and its development and certainly on the map when it comes to all things aquaculture! This year, the total number of people attending were over 3000 from 97 countries! Not only were there exhibitors from industry, R&I, academia and experts in the field, but also very encouraging to see young school children participating in events, such as seafood cooking workshops, co-organised by PTEPA – Plataforma Tecnológica Española de la Pesca y la Acuicultura. Good to see the young people also going round the exhibition area asking questions. So the theme was quite appropriate: Aquaculture for everyone!
As part of the panel discussion opening the session on “Offshore: The New Frontier of Aquaculture,” our partner Bela Buck from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, shared insights into the challenges faced by ‘exposed’ offshore aquaculture. He emphasised the potential for this industry to meet the global demand for seafood by employing innovative and sustainable solutions, including digital technologies. Additionally, he highlighted the investment opportunities demonstrated by the project’s industry partners within the fisheries sector, which could significantly impact the expansion of aquaculture further offshore.
The session was chaired by Javier Ojeda from APROMAR providing very engaging leading discussions following questions to the panel.
EATIP board member and also in the panel was Hans V. Bjelland from SINTEF Ocean.
We all had an enjoyable evening at the stunning Museum of Arts and Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, S. A.), where we reconnected with project and associate partners, colleagues, and long-time friends from the aquaculture community.
Days at AE25VAL were filled with activities and presentations and more from our partners in the next afternoon’s sessions on
Offshore & Multi-Use, chaired by Diogo Thomaz.
Antonio Agüera, gave a talk on the Production Potential and Ecosystems Services of LTA at M-MU areas in the Baltic and North Seas.
Øivind Bergh, Expanding the OLAMUR projects from the Baltic/North sea to the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic followed by another presentation on the Urgent Need for marine Spatial Planning of the Norwegian EEZ Emphasised by the Expansion of OFW and OF Aquaculture and other Industries. Wolf Isbert also presented on Aquaculture at Exposed sites and spoke about the challenges in the North Sea Wind Farm, presenting a good example and first hand experiences from the OLAMUR project.
