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EATIP AT THE AQUACULTURE EUROPE 2023, VIENNA

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Our EATiP booth #39 was a great success with lots of visits from many colleagues from all over.

 

Information was given about our project work including:

    • Providing technical input to The EC Aquaculture Assistance Mechanism
    • The AQUAEXCEL 3.0 project – opening up transnational access to EU research networks
    • OLAMUR – considering marine multi use (aquaculture and wind energy) as part of the EU Mission Ocean Baltic and North Sea Lighthouse

The  EATiP / EC / EAS INNOVATION FORUM was extremely well attended on Wednesday 20 September (Programme), as well as the AQUAEXEL3.0 networking drink following the event.

 

More on the AQUAEXCEL3.0 presentations 

Experimental assessment of the fish meal content requirements for Meagre feeds, by Ramon Fontillas | Skretting ARC (Netherlands).

The effect of krill meal inclusion on the growth of juvenile gilthead seabream, by Kiranpreet Kaur | Aker BioMarine Antarctic AS (Norway).

Metal amino acid complexes as a cost-effective strategy to help reducing fish meal in European seabass diets, by Claudia Silva | Zinpro (Portugal).

 

 

MORE PICTURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing our new EATiP President!

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We are delighted to report that further to the announcement at the General Assembly that after a remarkable 14 years of service our founding President Gustavo Larrazabal was standing down, the EATiP Board has duly elected Alex Obach, Director of Innovation at Skretting, to be our President for the next year.
EATiP President 2023 – 2024, Alex Obach.

Alex Obach has been the Innovation Director in Skretting since July 2021 and is the head of Skretting Aquaculture Innovation (Skretting AI).

Originally from Barcelona, he is a veterinarian with a Master in Aquaculture from the University of Girona (Spain) and a PhD in fish pathology and immunology from the University of West Brittany (France).

Alex started working at the Skretting Aquaculture Research Centre (ARC) in 1993 as a researcher, initially within fish health then as a nutritionist. From May 2007 to July 2021, he was the Managing Director of Skretting ARC (Aquaculture Research Centre), the global R&D unit of Skretting. He was also engaged as lecturer at the University of Barcelona (1995-1997), and worked as Technical Director in Marine Harvest (2004-2007).

Commenting on his election and the important role that EATiP plays in promoting strategic research and innovation needs for European Aquaculture, Alex notes, “I am convinced that innovation and technological development will be instrumental to secure the sustainable growth of the aquaculture industry and Europe, encouraged through the assistance of EATiP and the identification of strategic research and innovation priorities alongside innovation transfer,  should be a role model to promote innovation at all levels and by all the stakeholders in our industry”.

We are sure that you join with the Board and Secretariat in welcoming Alex to the position of President and we look forward to sharing future developments with you!

Introducing Sarah Joly

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The EATiP Secretariat are delighted to be hosting an intern for the third consecutive year, continuing our tradition of taking a student from the University of Liège who is studying for a Masters in Oceanography.

This year we are delighted to welcome Sarah Joly.

Sarah will be assisting the EATiP team  on a number of project and administrative tasks and we look forward to her getting to know both our diverse projects and membership in more detail.  In a short message that Sarah provided by way of introducing herself to the EATiP Platform, we were struck with her clear understanding of the need to balance the public demand for sustainable industries with the increasingly important role of aquaculture in the provision of Blue Foods to the European market.

“I support the concept of aquaculture, the need to farm fish, shellfish and algae, but also appreciate the consumer perspective of wishing to see “sustainable” industries. In summary, I am in line with the socio-economic vision for the development of the aquaculture sector and the wider blue economy.”

Sarah Joly – 2nd Year Masters Student at the University of Liège

 

 

Although the intern position is only for one month, it looks like Sarah will be returning to the aquaculture community before too long, going on to tell us, “I was lucky enough to get an internship at EATIP. This gives me an opportunity for concrete consideration of the practical issues relating to aquaculture. This apprenticeship also gives me the opportunity to consider the range of work and opportunities in this field. This is something that I would like to pursue after my university studies have concluded.”

We look forward to working with Sarah and showing the wealth of opportunities there are in aquaculture – as demonstrated across our diverse platform membership and to demonstrate to her trends and priorities in the aquaculture research and innovation network, both in terms of industry priorities but also from the perspectives of policy considerations.   We thank our supporters and members for their welcome to Sarah over the next few weeks – let’s see what opportunities might arise!

OLAMUR – a new EU funded project addressing aquaculture and renewable energy.

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EATiP are delighted to be participating in a new EU Mission Ocean Lighthouse project, considering the integration of aquaculture production with renewable wind energy in marine multi use sites.

The OLAMUR project, running from January 2023 to December 2026 will engage 25 partners across European industry and research organisations who will work together to farm kelp and mussels at three pilot sites in Europe: two existing offshore wind farms and one fish farm that produces rainbow trout.

The Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway is leading the project, whilst EATiP will take responsibility for leading on communication and dissemination activities.

The offshore wind farm Kriegers Flak in Kattegat is operated by the swedish company and project partner Vattenfall. This is one of the sites for kelp, mussels and artifical reefs. Photo: Vattenfall

The project is due to receive total European Union funding of €8,2 million over the course of the four year project duration.

“The OLAMUR project is a prime example of the way we have to work to solve the big problems of our time. It is not only an interdisciplinary, international scientific effort, but a lighthouse project which is set to provide specific, sustainable solutions for actual industries – today”, noted Nils Gunnar Kvamstø, Director of IMR, during his welcome address to project partners at a kick off meeting hosted by IMR in Bergen, Norway.  “In this case, how can you combine energy production and sustainable food production, while perhaps also providing services to the ecosystem?”

The project will investigate several aspects of this, such as:

  • Practical solutions to the challenge of farming in exposed offshore environments.
  • Will the kelp/bivalves produced be safe to eat? (For example, concerns have been expressed about microplastics and hydraulic fluid from wind turbines)
  • Potential carbon storage and habitat enhancement from farming kelp/bivalves.
  • Legislation and regulation (including considering bureaucratic barriers to co-location and MSP?)
  • In practice, wind farms can act as reserves for fish and other animals, since fishing is prohibited – can this type of reserve benefit some species, fisheries and aquatic ecosystems?
  • Can we improve the habitat for fish and other animals by creating artificial reefs there?

As a “lighthouse” project the work will contribution to a number of EU policy priorities including working towards the 2030 Mission Ocean goal of restoring oceans and waters through research, innovation and blue investment.

The project is based in the Baltic basin, but seeks to benefit other EU and international basins through knowledge and innovation transfer. In many states, the offshore wind industry and marine multi use sites are only in the early stages of development.  The project will also contribute in discussions surrounding the increasing emphasis on Marine Spatial Planning and engage with the EU MSP Platform.

The project partners in the various work packages are now in the planning process.  Project partners include:

Project parnters attending the project kick off meeting in Bergen, Norway in January 2023. (Photo: Erlend A. Lorentzen / IMR)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the pilot facilities in Denmark and Estonia, equipment will probably be put into the sea this year, with Germany following in 2024.

”There are no off the shelf solutions for the type of aquaculture we are about to do. We have to develop the solutions from scratch, tailored to meet the local conditions” – Bela H. Buck, Professor at the German Alfred Wegener Instiute, leading the work package which looks at the farming itself. (Photo: Erlend A. Lorentzen / IMR)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project communication and dissemination tools are currently being developed including a project website, communication and dissemination plan and social media contacts.  Look out for futher details coming soon!  Please see here for further contact details on the project.

EATiP joins the AAC

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Further to today’s special General Meeting, EATiP is delighted to have been officially welcomed as a member of the AAC – the European Aquaculture Advisory Council.  Commenting on the decision, the EATiP President, Gustavo Larrazábal, drew attention to the challenges and opportunities facing European aquaculture, noting: “the cutting edge research and innovation activities for which European aquaculture is justifiably highly regarded will be key in achieving the ambitions for European aquaculture production and realising the targets and objectives that the industry, civil society and regulators aspire to.  EATiP stand ready to lend our support to the AAC in their deliberations and to assist wherever possible through our experience, expertise and membership network, highlighting the role that technology, research and innovation may have to play and bringing strategic research and innovation priorities to the fore in considering further development for a sustainable European aquaculture sector.”

EATiP has been supportive of the establishment of the AAC from the first recommendations for such a Council to be established –  as part of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy in 2013. For some time, EATiP has been operating as an observer at AAC and further to some internal organisational readjustments in 2021, EATiP is now able to commit sufficient staff time and resources to be able to operate as a full and active member of the AAC.

A key factor in the EATiP Boad agreeing this decision was set in the context of the adoption of the Com(2021) 236 – Communication for Strategic guidelines for a more sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture for the period 2021- 2030 and Com(2021) 240 Communication on a new approach to a sustainable blue economy in the EU transforming the EU’s Blue Economy for a Sustainable Future. Within Annex 1 of the Com(2021) 236 (strategic guidelines) a number of points are referenced to the AAC where we feel EATiP will be in a position to assist and collaborate with the AAC and with the European Commission and we look forward to working proactively and productively on this.

Areas of specific interest for EATiP with regard to the AAC and the EU Strategic Guidelines inlcude:

Section 2.4 – Increasing Knowledge and Innovation

  • Encourage aquaculture producers and other stakeholders to work together with research and innovation institutes and public authorities to find solutions to the challenges of the sustainable development of EU Aquaculture
  • Disseminate information on research and innovation projects and their results among members
  • Promote the uptake by the EU aquaculture industry of existing innovation
  • Promote in the aquaculture sector the regular training of aquaculture professionals in particular on how to incorporate innovation practices.

Section 2.3 – Ensuring social acceptance and information to the Consumer

  • Support and ensure the broad dissemination by members of the coordinated EU-wide campaign on EU aquaculture.
  • Promote the use of digitalisation tools and artificial intelligence for the traceability and transparency of aquaculture products.

    Section 2.2 – Participating in the Green Transition

  • Ensure that EU aquaculture producers are informed about relevant research and innovation to improve the environmental performance of aquaculture operations.
  • Ensure that EU aquaculture producers are informed about relevant research and innovation on animal welfare.
  • Promote the monitoring and reporting by the aquaculture industry of environmental indicators. Section 2.1 – Building Resilience and Competitiveness
  • Ensure that EU aquaculture producers are informed about relevant research and innovation on animal-health and public-health matters.
  • Encourage the use by the aquaculture sector of digital tools for increased traceability and transparency.

We identify many areas where EATiP will be able to support and assist these ambitions – not only through dissemination and communication with out membership and Mirror Platform Network, but also through inclusion of AAC activities and membership in our online thematic forum events and “On the Horizon” project dissemination service.

The mutual assistance that may be provided between two multi stakeholder organisations such as the AAC and EATiP towards the promotion of a sustainable European aquaculture is clear – and we look forward to a long and fruitful working relationship together!

EATiP Internship – 2022

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We are delighted to inform Platform members and EATiP supporters that following on from our successful trial last year, we will be hosting another intern at the EATiP office – this time during the first half of February with a second two week block scheduled for the early summer.

Estelle Bertimes is a 22 year old Belgian student, who is currently studying in her second year of a Masters in Oceanography at the University of Liège, Belgium.

Estelle Bertimes, our 2nd EATiP intern.

As part of the Master programme, students have to experience a one-month internship in an organisation linked to the broad field of oceanography. For this internship, Estelle expressed a wish to work with the EATIP to experience a different point of view with regard to oceanography and to learn how aquaculture is included in ocean science.

It is Estelle’s view that “aquaculture is the future for marine organism production and I feel it is important to learn more about it.”   A further attraction is the wide range of conferences and events with which EATiP engage (although sadly most are still online at the moment…) with Estelle adding that she is “interested in learning everything especially when it comes to biology, environment or general science topics“.

Certain tasks have been identified by the Secretariat that Estelle will be able to work on independently whilst helping us, including analysis of our EATiP Forum events and also liaison work with our EATiP Mirror Platforms.  We thank members and supporters in advance for your support and willingness to engage with Estelle’s work to help the EATiP platform.

Bienvenue à bord Estelle!

New Year: New Members!

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The EATiP Platform extend to all readers our best wishes for 2022!  We look forward to a successful year full of innovation and development for our sector and stakeholders.

We begin this New Year in a very positive way by welcoming two new members to our network!  Indicative of our multi-stakeholder nature, one member comes from the aquaculture industry, the other from aquaculture academia.

Ace Aquatec is an award-winning aquaculture technology company specialising in in-water electric stunners; automated waterjet bleeding; gentle contactless pumping; predator deterrents, biomass cameras and Sea Lice removal systems.

Ace Aquatec – one of two new members joining EATiP in January 2022

Ace Aquatec help their customers businesses to thrive by making their operations efficient, ethical and sustainable.  With the high importance attached to aquatic animal health and welfare within European aquaculture, EATiP will certainly benefit from the knowledge and experience this company can bring.  With a head office in Dundee (Scotland, UK) Ace Aquatec were co-founded in 1999 by inventor John Ace Hopkins and investor Annette Pyne-Carter after they saw the potential technological innovation could have in accelerating the adoption of responsible fish farming practices. The company project manages global R&D projects, manufacturing at two UK factories, and co-ordinate installers and engineers worldwide. The company also has a Canadian office and distribution partners in key markets.

Ace Aquatec has grown from a family run business into a global supplier of aquaculture solutions retaining a key focus on local partnerships and personal customised solutions and we are delighted to welcome them to our network – sure in the knowledge we will value their experience and knowledge.

 

From the academic side, The University of Stavanger (Norway) represents another type of Technology Platform membership category, bringing an additional wealth of expertise to our scientific and academic membership.  The Department of Aquaculture offers a number of areas of specific knowledge and expertise, where the University is keen to collaborate with EATiP members and engage in both project and other activities. Specifically, the University seeks to engage in the areas of:

  • Offshore Fish Cage Design, Environmental Load Modelling, Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS), Artificial Reef, Contaminant Transport, Digital Twin Modelling, Fluid Mechanics and Dynamics, Turbulence Modelling
  • Aquatic diseases, Emerging infectious diseases, Pathogen molecular biology and sequencing
  • Innovation, Seafood markets, Competitiveness and resilience in Aquaculture
  • Fish health, fish welfare, Environmental impact, Risk assessment

The University of Stavanger – brining a wealth of expertise to the EATiP Platform.

Welcoming the new members to the EATiP platform, President Gustavo Larrazábal commented “at a challenging time for both the European aquaculture sector and European citizens in general, we are delighted to welcome these two new members to our platform, demonstrating that collaboration and engagement in the fields of research and innovation remain strong within our sector.  With the increasing emphasis on fish welfare in addition to fish health, and the ambitions set out in the Strategic Guidelines for European Aquaculture and Blue Economy, along Horizon Europe and the European Missions, the wealth of knowledge and expertise brought to EATiP through the University of Stavanger and Ace Aquatec will further extend and improve our contribution to the development of a sustainable and innovative European aquaculture sector.”

API joins EATiP: furthering the industry / research & innovation collaboration.

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EATiP is delighted to welcome as a new member to the platform API – the Associazione Piscicoltori Italiani.

API is a non-profit corporation which aims to protect, develop and consolidate all activities related to aquaculture in Italy.

API – brining Italy aquaculture industry representation to the heart of EATiP

Established in June 1964, the professional association represents over 300 fish farms operating with fresh, marine and brackish water and of many species, representing around 90% of the Italian finfish production.  Principle species farmed in Italy include Trout, Bass and Bream but there is also production of Mullet, Sturgeon (for Caviar) and Eel along with carps, catfish and other species of freshwater fish. For further details you can look at production figures here.

API’s work focuses on providing up-to-date knowledge and training opportunities to ensure the continuous professional development of fish farm workers. API has national and international recognition and exposure and collaborates with a wide range of stakeholders and a large network of fish farmers from all production methods across all of Italy.

Having collaborated informally with EATiP over a number of years through various collaborations and projects, we are delighted to welcome API to our formal list of core members.  It is vital for technology platforms to be industry led and to maintain close relations with farmers and producers.  The merits of the multi stakeholder approach is that it allows for a two way communication process between active stakeholders – industry informing and advising of their priorities and emerging issues and researchers disseminating and sharing project outputs, information on new technologies and farming practices and advice.

We look forward to continuing our close working relationship – which in Italy now includes not only API but also the research network ISPRA and the Italian Mirror Platform ITAQUA.  A strong representation to assist in driving forward the ambitions for an expanding and sustainable aquaculture sector in Europe from one of the key aquaculture producing European Union member states.

Stiim Aqua Cluster: expanding the EATiP Mirror Platform Network

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EATiP is proud to announce that a further national Mirror Platform has joined the EATiP family – Stiim Aqua Cluster.  Stiim is the sixteenth national or regional cluster to join EATiP and demonstrates the strong commitment to the Platform from the Norwegian aquaculture industry.

Stiim Aqua Cluster – the 16th national cluster to join EATiP

Stiim Aqua Cluster represent a complete ecosystem for aquaculture innovation in Norway. The cluster now has about 130 members and partners from all of the country and is located on the south-western coast of Norway.

This brings the total number or organisations gathered under the EATiP Mirror Platform umbrella to around 1000 members – reaching across all aspects of the aquaculture industry value chain.

 

Amongst the cluster’s main focus areas are:

  • New areas for aquaculture to enhance sustainable seafood production
  • Increasing the availability of capital to stimulate innovation and growth
  • Promoting R&D projects and sharing of knowledge in member companies
  • Facilitating networking events and increasing competence within the indutstry

Blue Planet Academy is the cluster’s platform for promoting best practice in aquaculture. Blue Planet Academy is the world’s largest e-learning platform on aquaculture, offering thousands of videos and a variety of online courses on fish species from salmon to tilapia to customers around the world.

EATiP are delighted to welcome Stiim as a formal member of the platform and look forward to the increased experience, knowledge and potential for aquaculture innovation that our collaboration will bring.

Further details are available from the Stiim Aqua Cluster website and also through the LinkedIn network @Stiim Aqua Cluster

New Year New Roles

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We are delighted to announce that further to a reorganisation of our resources during the autumn, David Bassett has joined the EATiP team in the capacity as Senior Adviser.

Familiar to many EATiP members through our General Assembly meetings, since 2017 David has been working with EATiP as the project manager for the EU Horizon 2020 funded EURASTiP international support action (www.eurastip.eu) working on the development of multi stakeholder platforms for the aquaculture sector in south east Asia and their scope for increased interaction with European stakeholders.  With this project now entering the final stages of reporting, it is an excellent opportunity for David to take on leading other initiatives on behalf of EATiP, including strategy and policy work.

David has worked in the aquaculture sector since 2005, spending a decade as the Chief Executive of a UK aquaculture producers association.  It is through this role that he first became active in European aquaculture, working closely with FEAP (www.feap.info)  where he followed a number of EU FP6 & FP7 projects as an industry representative in addition to participating in meetings of the European Commission ACFA Working Group 2.

David Bassett: looking forward to driving the aquaculture innovation agenda forward with EATiP.

Through this collaboration with FEAP, David was also engaged in the early stages of the planning and development of both EATiP and the Aquainnova project.

For 9 years David acted as a director of the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum (which has now been replaced by Scottish Aquaculture & Innovation Centre (www.scottishaquaculture.com) , an EATiP Mirror Platform) and also acted as the Company Secretary of an industry owned and managed quality certification scheme.  He worked on the steering committee of the WWF Aquaculture Dialogues (Rainbow Trout), sat on the Technical Advisory Group of the ASC during the transition stage of the dialogues to Standards and has served as an industry representative on the management committee of the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling (UK).

David is currently based in Edinburgh (UK) but has travelled extensively on project work addressing  both European and south east Asian aquaculture production.  He has a personal interest in history and international relations having studied in those fields and looks forward to a time when, in addition to working online, we are able to travel, network and learn in person again!