The SEAFARE (Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Aquaculture for the Atlantic Region of Europe) project held a two-day project meeting at the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA) aquaculture research station in Olhao, Portugal, July 16-17, 2013. The meeting provided an opportunity for the partners to present and discuss their progress and expected outputs as the project nears its expected endpoint in December 2013. From these interactions, the significant potential of the project\'s research to positively impact policy, industry and society became clear. The meeting was attended by representatives from Bangor University (UK), the Andalusian Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IFAPA) (Spain), AquaTT (Ireland), and the meeting host IPMA.
Mr Daniel Lee, SEAFARE project coordinator, said: “We are facing a busy period between now and the end of the project. We have achieved very interesting results during the project\'s lifetime, such as the work related to wetlands aquaculture carried out in Veta la Palma in Spain or the earthen ponds here in South Portugal, and we will ensure the new knowledge generated goes to the right stakeholders to facilitate its uptake.”
SEAFARE is planning to organize a workshop in October 2013 in Seville, Spain, in order to facilitate the transfer of knowledge generated from the project to interested parties. At this workshop, IPMA and IFAPA, along with Bangor University, will present the main results related to the benefits of environmentally friendly wetland aquaculture systems to a wide range of stakeholders, including environmental managers, policy makers, the aquaculture industry, and NGOs at local, regional and international level.
Dr Pedro Poussao, the manager of the IPMA aquaculture research station in Olhao, said: “It has been a pleasure to host this very productive meeting. We have proved that the integrated multitrophic aquaculture systems are workable and productive in earthen ponds and that they can also be implemented in wetlands aquaculture farms to increase their productivity. This could represent an opportunity to create employment in depressed rural areas. We are looking forward to attending the Seville workshop and presenting our results to policy makers and managers along with industry.”
The SEAFARE project aims to promote the diversification of the aquaculture industry by providing a greater range of species and alternative environmentally-friendly production systems. All the initiatives developed by the project are assessed for their commercial applicability through close collaboration with stakeholders and SMEs. The project involves 14 partners, bringing together applied R&D centres, aquaculture industry organisations and environmental agencies across the Atlantic maritime region to promote the sustainable expansion of European aquaculture.
