The makings of a good show
What’s your favourite event in the past 20 years?
So hard to say, they are all different. Some highlights: AE2003 Beyond Monoculture, which was the first time we focused on IMTA; AE2010 Porto – the first time we exceeded 1,000; AE2014 San Sebastian for the location; AE2017 Dubrovnik – for the location and the social events; and Berlin – which was huge and one of the first major European capitals (apart from Edinburgh).
What are the origins of the President’s Reception?
It goes right back to the first meeting in Venice in 1981 and was a chance for the EAS president to host a dinner.
How do you select plenary speakers and conference themes?
The plenaries are where we can do something new each year, we can get in people from outside aquaculture to give us their take on different things. We’re continuing in that vein in Cork and doing something related to the general theme of Ireland, which is based around the circular economy.
How have the trade shows developed on your watch?
They started in Istanbul in 2007, with Future Fish Eurasia. We then went ‘on our own’ from 2008. In Berlin in 2019, there were around 150 booths.
Is there scope to make the conference/trade shows bigger?
Yes, although we don’t want too many parallel sessions, we also want to keep scientific quality high and attendees generally tell us that 1,500 to 2,000 is a maximum.
How can you continue to expand the EAS membership?
We’ve started, with free membership for students and retirees, promotion membership for first time non-member attendees. Since Berlin, this has added 240 new members, bringing us to 766 at present.
What will be the impact of the UK’s exit from Europe?
Difficult to say. The obvious challenge is on tariffs for aquaculture products. For mobility and research, Boris Johnson’s government has made promises and given guarantees. Whether he will deliver on them is another question.
What plans are in place for Aquaculture Europe 2021?
What we will probably do in Madeira is focus on aspects of semi containment systems in the sea. RAS covers land based predominantly but anywhere where you recirculate water, or you control the environment within the production system, is kind of a link. So the fully contained and semi-contained systems in the sea, which we’re starting to see in Norway for example with big prototypes, we’ll focus on in Madeira.
What do you still want to achieve in your role within the EAS?
To continue to increase paid membership (to get it well over 1,000) to continue to provide high value events (with something new and different each time) and to continue to develop other tools (such as the EASTalk) to help us achieve our bridge building goals. I’d also like to develop further the Innovation Forum as innovation and knowledge usage is the main structural element of the gap that we are trying to bridge.