Focus on farmers
Salmon sector will be able to engage with researchers
The European Aquaculture Society’s annual conference in Edinburgh provides an important orum where Scotland’s fish arming sector and Europe’s leading aquaculture scientists can meet and exchange the latest knowledge, experience and research.
The conference is one of the more applied academic meetings in the calendar, and to support its applied focus it has been organised by a cross party steering committee, headed up by Dr Mark James (MASTS) which has drawn input rom the local industry.
From the SSPO and salmon farming industry’s perspective, it has been important to help guide the programme and structure of the event to cover subjects we consider of key relevance, while appreciating the act that this event re- mains, largely, an academic con erence.
ey or the Sco sh salmon arming industry is the broad range o themes covered by the con erence programme, which not only include production but consider the entire value chain, with sessions on health, nutrition, certification, governance, regulation and many more.
This diverse programme is, therefore, likely to be of interest to people rom many different levels o our members’ businesses, rom senior management to those working directly on the arm.
It is also a great opportunity for us to hear updates on some of the large European projects currently underway, and indeed those nearing completion, specifically projects that may have some relevance or Sco sh salmon armers.
We have never been shy in saying that, as a sector, we are sometimes frustrated that the key outputs of research are not relayed back to the industry in a timely manner, and this con erence will hope ully help to address that and give salmon farmers the opportunity to engage directly with project teams.
We are also greatly encouraged by the inclusion o parallel meeting events and workshops, which will occur outside the main con erence talks. These are likely to draw in further industry interest as they are perhaps more ocused on optimising best practice and exchanging experiences among armers and support industries essentially discussing what is happening on-the-ground’ today.
n particular, we look orward to the cleaner fish meeting on September 22. This will provide an excellent opportunity to urther strengthen the existing links we have with our Norwegian colleagues and will help drive forward best practice in cleaner fish production and use.
From an SSPO perspective, we are extremely pleased that our chair, Anne MacColl, will be giving one o the plenary lectures, on Friday, September 23.
Farmed salmon remains Scotland’s largest aquaculture sector and, with a strong ocus on both domestic and international markets, has or many years been Scotland’s largest ood export.
As such, it is extremely important that the sector is well represented at the con erence and Anne’s keynote presentation will help set a distinctly Sco sh theme to the event. Anne will discuss how innovation has led to the evolution o salmon arming in Scotland, how research has increased a uaculture production and what our uture looks like in Scotland.
Anne is also a member o the ision 2030 group, a cross sector working party which, over the course o the last six months, has been engaging with relevant stakeholders to better understand Sco sh a uaculture’s development aspirations or the uture, specifically targeting 2030.
The project is nearing its final stages, with its report due later this