News

EU4Algae Platform and First Event

EU4Algae is an online platform for collaboration among European algae stakeholders, including algae farmers, producers, sellers, consumers, technology developers as well as business-support organisations, investors, public authorities, academia, researchers and NGOs. Please access the link below in order to join the platform:
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/frontpage/1727

Also, the EU4Algae first meeting and event will take place on 12 December, in Rome, back-to-back to the AlgaEurope 2022 Conference (13 to 15 December). The EU4Algae afternoon session will be open and hybrid and aims to provide the main findings of a study to identify legislative measures that could be taken to help advance the algae sectors in the EU. In order to follow online you can register at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZ5-PPGRuQ0MQkMuwRx0JknbjgdmAXpPMipfpn2f3asaaM-A/viewform

AquaFarm 6th Edition

AquaFarm 6th edition, an international conference & trade show on aquaculture, algaculture and fishing industry will take place in Italy, at Pordenone Exhibition Center, during 15-16 February 2023.

The event is dedicated to professionals within the sector of aquaculture, shellfish farming, algaculture and sustainable fishing. 

For registration and other information about the event, you can access the following link:
https://www.aquafarm.show/en/

The Road to Sustainable Aquaculture (Report)

The report The Road to Sustainable Aquaculture is presented by the Sustainable Aquaculture Working Group of the Blue Food Partnership, in a presentation led by the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action platform. The purpose of the Working Group is to create a science based global roadmap to guide the growth of sustainable aquaculture.

In this report you can find matters regarding the current context of aquaculture including frameworks that support responsible growth, the latest in scientific knowledge, governance structures and case studies.

The report is prepared by ThinkAqua on behalf of the Blue Food Partnership with the support of the UK Government’s Blue Planet Fund and it reviews available information on responsible aquaculture development, including:
• Relevant global frameworks in order to examine how responsible and sustainable aquaculture can contribute to current food system and sustainable development decision-making (UN Sustainable Development Goals and FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries);
• Existing evidence programmes along the value chain to identify delivery mechanisms, relevance and impact;
• Governance mechanisms, considering national legislation and regulation, certification and other approaches;
• Opportunities for integrated systems, particularly how more holistic aquaculture approaches can support increased food yields;
• Various studies from numerous geographies to examine successful approaches towards the responsible development of aquaculture and lessons learned.

The report is available at the following link:

https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Road_to_Sustainable_Aquaculture.pdf

FEEDNETICS PRIZE for Aquaculture Nutrition Research Students – 2022/2023

SPAROS offers a prize for students and post-doc researchers that are conducting their research on aquaculture nutrition to foster the use of nutritional-based mathematical simulation in their work. The prize consists of free access to the FEEDNETICSTM web app, which is a prediction tool based on mathematical models that helps to evaluate in silico the effects of different nutritional and environmental conditions on fish farming production, contributing to improve aquaculture efficiency. 

Eligibile applicants: Postdocs, PhD and MSc students on aquaculture nutrition or related courses, who are registered as such on the launch date of the call (7/09/2022)

Application: send a proposal to feednetics@sparos.pt, with the subject “FEEDNETICS Prize 2022/2023”, explaining how you intend to apply FEEDNETICSTM in your work. More information regarding the application is available at: 

https://www.sparos.pt/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2022_2023_Concurso-estudantes-FDN_2022_07_22.pdf

Deadline for submission: 13 January 2023.

Financing Opportunity – Romania (Productive Investments in Aquaculture – Increasing Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy) – Deadline Extension

The General Department for Fisheries – Managing Authority for the Operational Programme for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs (Romania) has extended the deadline for submitting applications under the Operational Programme for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs 2014-2020, Union Priority 2 – Fostering Environmentally Sustainable, Resource-Efficient, Innovative, Competitive and Knowledge-Based Aquaculture, Measure II.4 – Productive Investments in Aquaculture – Increasing Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, call code POPAM/1017/2/3/Art.48, para. 1, let. k Productive Investments in Aquaculture – Increasing Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy.

New deadline for submission of proposals: 07.12.2022, 14:00

More information regarding the call is available in the following article:

Call for online participants: 15th edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum, 21-22 November 2022

The call for applications for the 15th edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum: “The Black Sea Region under pressure from multiple crisis to sustainable and democratic development” is now officially open!

You can apply until 14th of November 2022, 12:00 p.m. This year’s edition of the Forum will take place between 21-22 November 2022, in a hybrid format. The event is organized with the financial support of the European Commission.

*Eligible countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.

The registration form can be accessed here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Al2VP_wL3Zb92vk5rJ-f1LQqF1Mry9JGIduPNLepIS8/viewform?edit_requested=true

Funding Opportunity: Access to Aquaculture Research Infrastructures

Application is open for AQUAEXCEL3.0 TransNational Access programme, that offers access to 40 research infrastructures, with experimental costs, travel and subsistence covered by AQUAEXCEL3.0.

Applications for Transnational Access can be made at any time (continuously open call).

The AQUAEXCEL3.0 project unites major aquaculture experimental facilities with capacity to undertake experimental trials on a selection of commercially important aquaculture species and system types.

Transnational Access involves a research group in one country collaborating with one or more AQUAEXCEL3.0 Infrastructures that are located in a different country to the applicant, and which offer facilities and expertise not available in their own country. The collaboration normally takes the form of one or more scientists from the applicant organisation visiting the selected AQUAEXCEL3.0 installation to undertake research work there for up to 3 months. In some cases, remote access is also available (where the applicant is not present for some or all of the experimental period at the installation).

Expected projects can involve research on any of the available aquatic species at the selected research infrastructure.

All work must be completed by 31.10.2025.

Priority will be given to proposals submitted by a single researcher or by research groups where the group leader and a majority of group members are affiliated to institutions or laboratories (public or private) from European member or Associated States (Iceland, Norway, Albania. Bosnia and Herzegovina, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Switzerland, Faroe Islands, Ukraine, Tunisia, Georgia and Armenia), which are different from the State where the selected Research Infrastructure is located. A maximum of 20% of TNA projects may involve applicants from third countries (i.e. outside the EU or Associated States).

Applications must be prepared and submitted via the TNA online application system at https://apply.aquaexcel.eu/submit-proposal/.

More information available at: https://aquaexcel.eu/transnational-access/

SOFAS 2022 International Symposium on Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

SOFAS 2022 International Symposium on Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences was held during 25-27 October, 2022 in Trabzon, Turkey. The event was organized by SUMAE (Central Fisheries Research Institute) and GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) and aimed to contribute to promoting aquaculture techniques and practices on a larger scale in order to further the development of the sector in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

The event included the following sessions:

• Poster session
• Session I: AQUACULTURE STUDIES
• Session II: FISHERIES & AQUATIC SCIENCES
• Session III: GENETICS & DISEASES OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS
• Session IV: AQUATIC FOOD STUDIES

The symposium also included hands-on activities:

• Algae Farming
• Turbot: Farming & Releasing

The event concluded with a field visit to trout farms in Trabzon.

INTERNATIONAL BLACK SEA ACTION DAY (INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE BLACK SEA)

Black Sea Action Day 2022 commemorates the 26th anniversary of the signature of the Black Sea Strategic Action Plan. October 31 has been celebrated as the International Black Sea Action Day by the Black Sea countries every year since 1996.

International Black Sea Action Day is a regional activity designed to raise public awareness of the need for regional cooperation necessary for the protection of the Black Sea.

State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture – SOFIA 2022

The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) is the biennial flagship report of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division that analyses the status of global stocks and trends in fisheries and aquaculture at a global and regional level.

The 2022 edition of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) states that the growth of aquaculture lifted total production of fisheries and aquaculture to an all-time high of 214 million tonnes in 2020, with a production of 178 million tonnes of aquatic animals and 36 million tonnes of algae.

Aquaculture has grown faster than capture fisheries in the last two years and is expected to expand further over the next decade. In 2020, animal aquaculture production reached 87.5 million tonnes, 6 percent higher than in 2018.

More information available at:

https://www.fao.org/publications/sofia/2022/en/