ATLANTIC ACTION PLAN. PILLAR 2 WORKSHOP: BLUE SKILLS OF TH FUTURE & OCEAN LITERACY

Dear Friend of the Atlantic,

We would like to invite you to our first virtual Pillar 2 workshop ‘Blue Skills of the Future and Ocean Literacy’. During this workshop we will discuss relevant topics about the future of blue careers and citizens’ awareness of the importance of the ocean.

The workshop will bring together key blue economy and ocean literacy players and stakeholders to discuss education at all levels, in a perspective of attainment of the sustainable development goals, how to enhance the attractivity of blue careers and innovation in ocean literacy.

 

Workshop details:

  • Date: 14 April 2021
  • Time: 9:30-13:00 Portugal Time
  • Location: Online

 

Register here to join us.

Should you have any question, do not hesitate to contact us.

Hope to see you there!

 

Atlantic Assistance Mechanism Team

helpdesk@atlanticstrategy.eu

Fish Farmer magazine reports on CSAR expertise in lumpfish welfare

A recent article published by the Fish Farmer magazine reports on CSAR’s research on lumpfish welfare. Our research group developed and validated a rapid Lumpfish Operational Welfare Score Index (LOWSI) in collaboration with salmon and lumpfish farmers. Jim Treasurer, the author of the article, highlights the simplicity and clarity of this method to quickly assess lumpfish welfare: “Initially I thought calculation of a combined index might be too complex, but the clarity of the method is shown on the chart on page 8 of their paper (Rabdan and co-workers)”.  

The Fish Farmer Magazine article is available to read on pages 46-49.
The article published in the journal Aquaculture is also free to download.

 

Text by Dr Sara Barrento

Image credits: @CSAR

Webinar Online: Introducción a la Economía Azul Sostenible

 

Mediante esta jornada se pretende dar a concoer entre la comunidad universitaria la iniciativa de Crecimiento Azul Sostenible impulsada desde la Unión Europea y que abarca sectores tan importantes en la UPCT como:

  • Acuicultura y pesca
  • Turismo costero y marítimo
  • Biotecnología Marina
  • Energías Oceánicas
  • Transporte Marítimo
  • I+D vinculado al mar

 

PROGRAMA:

10:00 horas – Presentación de la Jornada

10:10 horas – Hacía un nuevo enfoque de la Economía Azul en la UE

10:30 horas – Oportunidades de colaboración en el marco del Mediterráneo Occidental: La perspectiva de la iniciativa WestMED

10:50 horas – Ejemplos recientes de financiación FEMP para empresas y universidades

Webinar: Sostenibilidad en el sector pesquero y acuícola

ICEX España Exportación e Inversiones, junto al Instituto para el Crecimiento Sostenible de la Empresa (ICSEM), organiza el Ciclo de Jornadas “Internacionalización y Desarrollo Sostenible, una aproximación sectorial” que se inició el pasado 28 de enero de 2021 con una jornada introductoria sobre crecimiento económico sostenible.

De las seis jornadas que se organizarán, esta primera tratará la Sostenibilidad en el Sector de la Pesca y Acuícola. Pretendemos que sea un punto de encuentro tanto del mundo empresarial como académico, dónde se ponga en valor las ventajas competitivas en materia de Sostenibilidad de cara al contexto internacional y compartan expectativas y retos en relación con la Internacionalización Sostenible, de modo que sirva como plataforma de proyección de las mejores prácticas en estos dos sectores.

Programa

Fecha: 18/02/2021

Horario: 16:00 horas (UTC+1)

Inscripciones: www.icex.es

Webminario: Plataforma webex

 

Necesidades Formativas del Sector Acuícola en Andalucía

Access2Sea es un Proyecto de Cooperación Transnacional de la Región Atlántica, co-financiado por FEDER a través del Programa Interreg Area Atlántica en un 75%, liderado por CEEI Bahía de Cádiz y que cuenta con la participación de CTAQUA como socio beneficiario y ASEMA como socio asociado en la provincia de Cádiz, además de otras 10 entidades, entre las que se encuentran centros de investigación, agencias de desarrollo y centros de apoyo empresarial, a nivel europeo.

El Proyecto tiene prevista la puesta en marcha de un Programa de Apoyo Empresarial para empresas del sector de la Acuicultura, que contempla la impartición de Acciones Formativas y Asesoramiento.

A través de este formulario, le invitamos a comunicarnos las necesidades que pudiera tener en este sentido, de manera que podamos adaptar el programa a las necesidades reales de las empresas o entidades vinculadas al sector.

Cuestionario: Acceda aquí

The FishSite reports on the Second Symposium on Welfare in Aquaculture

The FishSite – a knowledge-sharing platform with premium news, analysis, and resources for the aquaculture industries. reports on the recent Symposium on Welfare in Aquaculture delivered online on the 29th of November 2020. The article provides a summary of all the presentations and invites readers to access the recorded webinar which is now available on YouTube.

 

 

 

 

Text and images by Dr Sara Barrento

Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research, Swansea University

The Second Symposium on Welfare in Aquaculture puts fish welfare on the spotlight

A total of 262 participants from 38 countries attended the Second Symposium on Welfare in Aquaculture. This year the symposium was delivered online on the 26th of November and focused on Operational Welfare Indicators (OWI) for salmon, lumpfish, tilapia, sea bass, and sea bream. The webinar is available on YouTube and the talks can be downloaded from the symposium website.

The symposium is a follow up from the very successful SWELA 2019, focusing on Welfare Indicators for Novel species. The number of farmed fish outnumbers by far any other sentient animals farmed for food.

 

A recent report by the Access2Sea project highlighted that consumers are starting to realize how their food is produced; consumers more sensitive to the welfare of animals and the wellbeing of workers – fish welfare in aquaculture is extremely important.

The Director of CSAR, Professor Carlos Garcia de Leaniz, at  Swansea University, welcomed the participants and highlighted three main reasons for hosting this second symposium:  the increasing awareness of fish welfare, the link between fish welfare and fish health, and the need for operational welfare indicators (OWIs) that can be used by fish farmers.

 

 

 

 

Prof. Lluis Tort of the Autonomous University of Barcelona presented a keynote talk on Indicators of Welfare Status for Cultured Fish. Professor Tort explained the real challenges for measuring welfare in farmed fish and noted that despite fish being the most “used” animals worldwide (30,000 million/year), their welfare needs are the least well known. It was also highlighted that most scientists, and also the majority of consumers (73%) , now accept that fish can feel pain.

 

 

 

Dr. Lars Helge Stien, of the Institute of Marine Research, focused on OWI for salmon and explained the challenges of measuring welfare in a cage environment with thousands of individuals; he also explained the different welfare indicators and the merits of having clear decision flow-charts and 3-alert levels which are relevant for fish farmers.

 

 

 

 

The OWIs for lumpfish were discussed by Carolina Gutierrez-Rabadan of CSAR – Swansea University. She explained the challenges of defining welfare for novel farmed species such as the lumpfish and provided examples of the importance of measuring the reliability in OWIs, and the need for simplification and validation. Carolina presented a practical Lumpfish Operational Welfare Score Index (LOWSI) and highlighted that most lumpfish she sampled in salmon farms were in good condition (70%) with only 2% in poor welfare status.

 

 

 

Dr. Sonia Rey Planellas of Stirling University pointed out that there are few or no OWIs for tilapia, which is the second most important farmed fish in the world. Tilapia is farmed mostly in developing countries where welfare needs may not always be a priority. Another challenge is the complex social behaviour and aggression shown by this species

 

 

 

 

Professor Michalis Pavlidis, of the University of Crete, discussed the different welfare challenges posed by sea bass and sea bream at different production stages; he highlighted the need to keep the temperature within optimal limits as a key welfare consideration for these very important Mediterranean farmed fish. Professor Pavlidis highlighted the big improvements that the industry has made to make slaughtering more humane.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Sofia Teixeira of Tyndall Institute in Ireland presented non-invasive, rapid tests using smart sensors which can be used to monitor health by measuring indicators such as cortisol and other parameters that have wide applications in the assessment of immune competence, stress, growth, and behaviour.

 

 

 

 

The Symposium ended with Prof. Carlos Garcia de Leaniz summarizing the talks and inviting attendants to the next Symposium on Welfare in Aquaculture which will be hosted in Crete in 2021.

 

 

 

 

Text and images by Dr Sara Barrento

Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research, Swansea University

Ayudas para medidas en materia educativa y de apoyo al sector de la acuicultura de Andalucía, ante la situación generada por el coronavirus (COVID-19).

  • Objeto de la Convocatoria:

La finalidad de esta ayuda es paliar los efectos de impacto económico negativo que dicha crisis sanitaria ha provocado en el sector de la acuicultura, con el fin de ayudar a sostener la continuidad de su empresa o negocio, evitando el cese definitivo del mismo y, por tanto, la destrucción de empleo.

Esta actuación está cofinanciada con fondos FEMP procedentes de la Unión Europea, con cargo al Programa Operativo FEMP Andalucía (2014-2020).

La subvención consistirá en el pago del 50%, como máximo, de la disminución del ingreso por ventas en el periodo desde el 14 de marzo al 31 de julio de 2020, respecto de la media del mismo período de los tres años anteriores, o respecto al mismo periodo del año anterior para las empresas con tres o menos años de actividad, sobre la base de las solicitudes de ayuda aprobadas por la autoridad competente en materia de pesca, con un máximo de subvención de 150.000 € por entidad beneficiaria.

  • Actividades Subvencionables:

La disminución del ingreso por ventas en el periodo desde el 14 de marzo al 31 de julio de 2020, respecto de la media del mismo período de los tres años anteriores, o respecto al mismo periodo del año anterior para las empresas con tres o menos años de actividad.

  • Requisitos:
    • Estar ejerciendo la actividad productiva objeto de la ayuda a fecha 14 de marzo de 2020 en al menos una instalación de producción ubicada en la Comunidad Autónoma de Andalucía, así como estar ejerciendo la misma en el momento de solicitar la ayuda.
    • Ser titular de la autorización administrativa para realizar el cultivo de especies de acuicultura en Andalucía a fecha de solicitud.
    • En caso de persona física, estar dada de alta como autónomo en la Seguridad Social.
    • En caso de agrupaciones sin personalidad, deberán hacerse constar expresamente en la solicitud el importe de subvención a aplicar por cada uno de sus miembros, que tendrán igualmente la consideración de entidad beneficiara. En cualquier caso, deberá nombrarse una persona representante o apoderado único de la agrupación.
    • Haber sufrido una disminución de ingresos por ventas en el periodo desde el 14 de marzo al 31 de julio de 2020 de al menos un 20% de la media de ingresos por ventas del mismo periodo de referencia, en los tres años anteriores al 2020, o al del año anterior si se trata de una empresa con menos de tres años de actividad.
  • Procedimiento de Solicitud:

Las solicitudes de ayudas irán dirigidas a la Dirección General de Pesca y Acuicultura y se presentarán de forma telemática ajustándose al modelo de formulario que figura como anexo en la convocatoria de las ayudas y que está disponible en el siguiente enlace del Catálogo de Procedimientos y Servicios de la página web de la Junta de Andalucía:

https://juntadeandalucia.es/servicios/procedimientos/detalle/23230/datos-basicos.html

Sardines in aquaculture? Yes, in the Algarve.

The shortness of sardines may have their days numbered, since their production in aquaculture is ready to be sold on a large scale, with only the need for industrialists willing to bet on the business. The project started at the Pilot Fish Farming Station (EPPO), of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), in Olhão, and joined other species that already existed in this space, from sea bass to sea bream, passing through the croaker and sole.

But if at first, the idea was to study the stress of sardines – after being caught, the researchers tried to understand their behavior after being released at sea and their survival rate – gained new impetus with the challenge of the previous Minister of the Sea, in 2016, which aimed to combat the scarcity of sardines. “We started working on sardines in 2005/2006. If a trawler had reached the quota, the sardine was thrown back into the sea, but there was a fear that the animal would not survive. At that time, we caught sardines to try to understand how they looked at the food and how they behaved after being released. But there was still no pressure on quotas. We had the sardines here for a few years, put on aquaculture, put eggs, but we didn’t go down that path ”, tells Pedro Pousão, responsible for EPPO.

The project started to take on new dimensions with the challenge of restocking by Ana Paula Vitorino, the former Minister of the Sea. An idea that was quickly dismissed, since for that it would be necessary to have thousands of this species. “For many years we did experimental restocking with sea bream, sea bream, sea bass, halibut, corvina, they are slightly different species, but always from an experimental point of view to try to understand if the species died, if it held on, if it fled. It wasn’t meant to fill the sea with fish because there would have to be millions of fish to have any meaning ”, says the official. From there, the next step would be production for consumption. And it is at this level that is the aquaculture of sardines.

Pedro Pousão guarantees that the species adapts perfectly to captivity. And for the most suspicious, the person in charge of EPPO says only that the only care that needs to be taken regards the way they are transported, but this applies to all species. “Sardines adapt perfectly to captivity, it is evident that they lose a little bit of scale and have to be handled more carefully. But handling sea bream and sea bass is totally different. If I transport the sea bream and sea bass to the cages in the same way, my mortality rate is 80% in the sea bass and in the sea bass it is zero. They have to be transported depending on the specificity of the species ”, he adds.

5TH AQUAIMPROVE 2020

You are invited to the 5th AQUAIMPROVE WORKSHOP to be held on the 6th of November 2020.

Due to the actual COVID limitations, this year event will be held online.

This year we will have the 5th edition of the AQUAIMPROVE Workshop and, due to the restrictions due to the actual COVID crisis, it will be held online. Of course, the success of this initiative is directly related to the willingness of participants to attend it and present their recent research.

Taking advantage of this online version of the workshop, we intend to extend it to a broader audience and take the opportunity to have some international experts presenting webinars.

Thus, in this workshop we wil have the following plenary lectures:

  • Alimentos funcionais – aplicação na aquacultura” – Prof. Margarida Maria Barros; Universidade Estadual Paulista – UNESP; Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia; Departamento de Melhoramento e Nutrição Animal; Laboratório de Nutrição e Saúde de Peixes – AquaNutri – Brasil
  • Protein and amino acid nutrition in marine fish” – Prof. Helena Peres; CIIMAR, Fish Nutrition and Immunobiology Laboratory.
  • Ácidos Graxos como nutracêuticos para peixes tropicais” – Prof. Priscila Vieira Rosa e Renan Rosa Paulino; Universidade Federal de Lavras, Departamento de Zootecnia, Brasil
  • Aquaponics in Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania: Research in the FishGlassHouse and knowledge transfer into regional aquaculture production” – Prof. Harry Palm; Universitat Rostock, Alemanha
  • Aquicultura na América do Sul: Peixes Amazônicos, Tilápia, Camarão e Salmão” – Dra. Raquel Tatiane Pereira; Technical Manager South America at Olmix Group, Jundiaí, São Paulo, Brasil.

The AQUAIMPROVE Workshop aims to promote the presentation and debate of recent research advances in aquaculture-related topics. It is directed to students, researchers, the academic community, and stakeholders.

The first AQUAIMPROVE Workshop was held in 2015 as an initiative of CIIMAR’s NUTRIMU group and the perception of the interest of this initiative encouraged us to promote it regularly as a meeting point for the scientific community, students, and stakeholders to discuss aquaculture-related issues. Of course, the success of this initiative is directly related to the willingness of participants to attend it and present their recent research.

We encourage you to participate and to disseminate this event among your colleagues and students. The participation is free of charge but pre-registration is required. Invited speakers will give plenary lectures on edge-cutting topics related to aquaculture.

Oral presentations are accepted (15 min) and will be evaluated by a Scientific Committee. A slot will be reserved for short presentations (3-5 min pitch including a maximum of 5 slides). Poster presentations are also welcome.

Students’ presentations are incentivized and will be prioritized. A certificate of participation will be provided to all registered participants, and a Abstract booklet will be also prepared.

Please register at https://forms.gle/pqd15reeT1aGYejz5

Abstract submission should be done until October 16 to aquacultureresearchworkshop@gmail.com (please consult the attached template)