French connection

The focus this month is on Europe, where the international industry will soon be gathering for the joint EAS (European Aquaculture Society) and WAS (World Aquaculture Society) conference, to be staged over five days in the southern French city of Montpellier. As well as highlighting the latest technological advances in our fast moving sector, Aqua 2018 will also feature sessions on emerging markets and look at the role of fish

farming in alleviating poverty. Increasingly, industry meetings are broadening their scope, tackling subjects such as the social acceptability of aquaculture and the contribution it makes to global food security and saving the planet, a move that is to be welcomed.

Also investigating initiatives in the developing world, Dr Harrison Charo Karisa of WorldFish writes about the farming potential in Nigeria, both in catfish and tilapia cultivation.

In Scotland, the summer has been something of a waiting game while the parliament is in recess and the members of Holyrood’s Rural Economy and Connectivity committee continue to weigh up the evidence in their inquiry into salmon farming. We don’t expect their report until the autumn but hope the MSPs are using the time to become fully acquainted with the facts about fish farming.

This month also sees the retirement of Marine Harvest’s longest serving employee, Steve Bracken. We had no trouble collecting warm tributes from his friends and colleagues to mark the milestone and, along with the rest of the industry, the team at Fish Farmer wish him all the very best for the future.