Brief encounter
But major breakthrough will come, says Danish technology group
Danish companies have seen the potential in the burgeoning aquaculture industries of the Middle East and eight of them attended the AquaME show in Dubai last month under the umbrella Danish Fish Tech Group.
The group’s head, Martin Winkel, said it had been a success with ‘some good quality leads they could take home with them’.
‘A lot of the visitors to the exhibition were high quality and very interested in aquaculture. They came from North Africa – Algeria and Egypt mainly, and from most of the Middle East region, including Iran. And there were quite a few from Europe as well.’
For most of the Danish companies the Middle East is a new field, said Winkel. But for those who launched initiatives five or six years ago, they can now see the benefits of their investments.
‘It takes a lot of time and effort to gain access and success in the Middle East – it’s about building good relations with locals,’ said Winkel.
‘Aquaculture is a relatively new field there and the locals are less experienced in this field than the Danish companies. They see a lot of potential in aquaculture and they are very keen to learn more from the Danish companies who have a great deal of expertise in the industry.’
As well as selling Danish technology, the Fish Tech exhibitors were also trading their know-how and Middle Eastern players were ‘very attentive during discussions to what the representatives of Danish companies were saying and they were willing to learn’, said Winkel.
‘As aquaculture starts to gain a bigger foothold in the Middle East it will be of great interest for the Danish companies to be represented there.
‘There is a lot of potential and a lot of investment on the way.
‘There are quite a few projects underway but the large potential is still to be fulfilled, it’s still an unknown territory for many locals.’
There is particular interest in the whole idea of recirculating water and RAS technology, a field where the Danes are market leaders.
‘Fish farmers in Denmark had to meet stricter regulations a few decades ago that have now made them very innovative in terms of meeting environmental requirements.’