August 7-10, 1999, Trondheim, Norway
The European Aquaculture Society is delighted once again to be joining with the Nor-Fishing Foundation to run a major 3-day aquaculture conference immediately before the Aquanor Exhibition. The theme of the 1999 conference is "Towards predictable quality": a short phrase, but one that points to many of the challenges facing the industry today. As in previous years, speakers will be encouraged to present up-to-date information on topics of interest to farmers, industry suppliers and fellow researchers from throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
The conference planners have identified several themes covering a wide range of interests. Following many requests, the organisers have included a session on larviculture which will run over three days. Quality of the starting material (eggs and larvae) as well as quality of the fry/spat produced and to be stocked under grow-out conditions is indeed one of the major concerns in larviculture of fish and shellfish. There will be two sessions on fish health topics including recent problems in the major production fields in North and Southern Europe, new vaccine developments, sea lice removal, and egg and smolt quality.
Problems associated with the management of waste on farms, new environmental regulations, disease transfer, and other aspects of interaction between farming and the environment will be covered in another session. There will also be a group of presentations on genetics in aquaculture: a topic of increasing interest to the industry. This will cover stock selection, broodfish management, techniques in molecular genetics and also genetic engineering.
The final two themes mentioned here (although certainly not last in importance) are harvesting and product quality (feeds, flesh quality, harvest technology, stress reduction, killing methods, transport and quality assurance) and also the position of aquaculture products in relation to the overall marketplace for fish and shellfish products.
Each morning will begin with three plenary lectures given by leading authorities, introducing topics that will be discussed in greater depth in the specialist sessions that follow. There will also be poster sessions associated with the themes and ample room to discussion. Finally, one or two themes will be presented under the form of practical workshops, which should be an ideal platform between scientists and the industry. Last year, the workshop on recirculation technology proved to be a very successful and appreciated part of the conference. Therefore, this type of session will be included again in the structure of event.
Scope and objectives:
The topic "towards predictable quality" has been chosen to reflect the increasing maturity of the aquaculture industry and the need to satisfy the demands of the industry in terms of quality and quantity of produce. Farmers must be able to deliver eggs, juvenile or harvested fish or shellfish of agreed quality (size, flesh quality) on dates that have been arranged in advance.
In order to achieve such reliable supply there must be control over all aspects of production. The themes chosen for the parallel sessions address this need and encourage presenters to demonstrate how scientific developments are benefiting the farmer. Topics include larviculture, with focus on quality of offspring and fry. There will also be sessions on fish health (including European disease problems, vaccine development, sea lice, egg and smolt quality), genetics and interactions of farms with environment, particularly with regard to waste management. Two sessions will cover marketing of aquaculture products and harvesting and product quality.
The conference, which is held immediately prior to AQUANOR, the world's largest aquaculture trade" exhibition, is designed to interest academics as well as fish and shellfish farmers, trade suppliers, buyers of aquaculture products and policy makers. There will be poster sessions to accompany each of the themes, providing the opportunity for discussions between participants.
The organisers have the intention to even better link the conference with this largest aquaculture exhibition, as is reflected in the new logo, in order to create a real meeting point for all parties involved with aquaculture throughout Europe and the world. Since Europe is a leading continent with respect to innovative technology in fish and shellfish farming, the international character of the themes of the conference and the Aquanor exhibition should allow Aquaculture Europe - 99 - Aquanor to become the place to be for aquaculturists in 1999.
Dr. Patrick Lavens
Chairman Organising Committee
Dr. Lindsay Laird and Dr. Helge Reinertsen
Chairman Programme Committee