Aquaculture Europe 2008 to address resource management

The key theme of Aquaculture Europe 2008 (AE2008) in Krakow, Poland from September 15-18 will be the natural, human and material resources for the sustainable development of aquaculture

One focus will be on the The Water Framework Directive,the most substantial piece of water legislation ever produced by the European Commission.

It requires that all inland and coastal waters within defined river basin districts must reach at least good status by 2015 and defines how this should be achieved through the establishment of environmental objectives and ecological targets for surface waters.

Poland has a very long tradition of pond aquaculture and produces some 18,000 tonnes of carp annually. Developments in the trout sector have seen production rise to 17,000 tonnes in 2006. Continued production diversification has also lead to an increasing output of other freshwater species.

Consumption of farmed fish in Poland in 2006 was 2.6 kg per capita. The dynamism of the sector has been recognised by the EU, with close to €90M of the European Fisheries Fund being allocated to further develop Polish aquaculture.

Thematic sessions are scheduled totake place each morning of AE2008 and are plenary sessions.

International invited speakers will present the issues and “open the debate”, paving the way for the parallel, technical sessions of contributed presentations.

Speakers include:

. Ian Johnston, who will open AE2008 with a look at the prospects for the application of basic research in fish morphology, physiology and genomics for understanding and influencing the domestication process in aquaculture species.

. Ronald Hardy from the University of Idaho, who will the address the often discussed issue of fish feed sustainability, with personal reflections on the utilisation of plant proteins in fish diets and the various challenges and trade offs in using plant raw materials in light of the current global demand for grain and oil seeds. He will especially focus on high-level replacement of fish meal and oil for carnivorous species and the possible future role of fish meal as a speciality ingredient.

. Guido van den Thillart, who comes from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, and has a general interest in energy metabolism of fishes with emphasis on the adaptive responses to stress and on spawning migration of eel. Guido will provide an overview of the European eel, addressing how fisheries biologists and aquaculturists can ‘recover’ this species for the natural ecosystems and for consumers.

. Carmen Popa, who is from the Romanian National Agency for Fishing and Aquaculture, will address delegates on the single most important aquaculture resource - Water. She will present her views on the role of aquaculture within the EU Water Framework Directive and the management issues that arise from implementation of this Directive. Carmen will present the unique case of Pond aquaculture, as practiced in Central and Eastern Europe for centuries and how this activity contributes to the management of water resources across the continent.

. John Dallimore, who will tackle the complex economic and social aspects of European aquaculture, and why EU agencies and industry should invest sensibly and why policies must project more towards more active consumer involvement.

More than 360 abstracts have been submitted from participants from 40 countries. Preparatory work by AE2008 Programme co-chairs Ewa Kamler and Konrad Dabrowski has lead to the development of the programme, which is made up of 15 parallel sessions running over the three conference days.

Of special note is the focus on reproduction. A special session will look at latest research in gamete physiology and methods of improvements in gamete biotechnology. Another session linked to this has been organised by the EU-funded project REPROFISH.

REPROFISH brings together specialists from all over Europe and from the scientific and industry sectors to identify and extract the most important results of past and current research programmes, and to prepare future actions. The REPROFISH session has a wide range of presentations that provide examples of this approach.