Offshore
Mariculture
11–13 October 2006
Corinthia San Gorg, Malta
Organised by the Society
for Underwater Technology and the Greenwich Forum
Supported by the European
Commission, the European Aquaculture Society, the
Maltese Ministry of Rural Affairs and the
Environment and
Irish Sea Fisheries Board
Sponsored by Aquarius Insurance Services and Royal SunAlliance
Summary of the Conference
The conference delegates, drawn from nineteen
countries, noted that Mariculture will become a major source of
protein to feed the growing world population, that no other source
be it wild capture or land-based animal protein will be able to
meet. Offshore mariculture offers considerable opportunities for the
environmentally sound expansion of the provision of this protein,
especially in terms of volume of supply, and should be an integral
part of these developments.
The practical experience reported at the
Conference demonstrated that finfish farms could be installed,
maintained and operated in the harshest oceanic conditions. The fish
thrived in these conditions and, with appropriate system design and
sound management and husbandry practices, the environmental impacts
of the farms were seen to be acceptable or negligible.
It was agreed that:
Governments need to support the development of an
offshore mariculture industry with enabling legislation
(particularly to minimise the time and cost of the permissions
process) and by providing suitable funding and support for
continuing research and development into sustainable production and
on-going measures to analyse and underwrite socio-economic
considerations for local communities.
Specifically, for offshore mariculture, we need
to support and develop:
 |
Technical advances that allow fully
integrated operational farming systems that measure and optimise
stock production in harsh sea conditions around the year while
minimising risk to human operators
|
|
Cost-effective technologies for harvesting
and processing stock to market
|
|
Transfer and adaptation of technologies from
other offshore sectors where appropriate
|
|
Adequate onshore facilities including port
facilities and siting for hatcheries
|
|
In common with other forms of aquaculture,
there is need to develop feeding strategies that are recognised
as sustainable
|
|
It was also suggested that, because of the
scale of costs for offshore developments, larger enclosures may
be more cost-effective and allow more room for reducing the
stress on the farmed animals
|
|
There is also a need for a set of model
guidelines for the establishment, location and husbandry of an
offshore finfish farm that can be used by farmers to develop
appropriate codes of practice for their operations.
|
Link to
Presentations and Forum
This link is password
protected and is only available free to those who attended the
Conference and those who purchase the password. For £50, you
can view over 20 presentations covering all aspects of offshore
mariculture, as presented at the Conference, as well as transcripts
of the discussions that took place.
Additionally, you will have
access to a forum, where others interested and involved in
mariculture can discuss a variety of topics, such as: Cage Systems,
Overall Farming Issues, License and Permits, Marine Spatial Issues,
and more.
Payments
will be taken using PayPal's secure system, and the password will be
sent to you via email from an SUT staff member shortly after receipt of payment.
Alternatively, if you prefer to use another method of payment or
have any further questions, please contact Mariam Pourshoushtari at
mariam@sut.org or 020 7382
2601.
