Crucial Decisions Taken in Sustainable Aquaculture Project

The meeting was crucially important as it enabled project partners to discuss, identify and plan the actions necessary to ensure that the project's research-based knowledge outputs are transferred to the correct end users. The meeting was attended by representatives from Bangor University (UK), IFAPA (Spain), IPMA (Portugal), the Marine Institute (Ireland), and hosted by AquaTT, the SEAFARE project partner responsible for the dissemination, targeted communication, and knowledge management of the project.

Daniel Lee, SEAFARE project coordinator, said: The SEAFARE partnership is developing new research to support sustainable and environmentally friendly aquaculture in the Atlantic region of Europe. Now that the project is nearing completion, it is crucial for SEAFARE that we ensure the main research outputs of the project are communicated to targeted end users. It's during this stage of the project that dissemination, communication and knowledge transfer activities are most relevant, and I am glad to count on AquaTTs experience in this field".

David Murphy, AquaTTs manager, stated: It is a pleasure for us to hold this meeting in Dublin. The SEAFARE project comprises several sub-projects and its very interesting how all of them converge into one common goal: the development of solutions to specific constraints on industry development for Europes fish and shellfish farmers through the development of low-intensity aquaculture systems that are compatible with sensitive coastal habitats.

The SEAFARE project has three main objectives: (i) promoting diversification of the aquaculture industry by providing a greater range of species and alternative production systems (ii) protecting sensitive coastal environments through the development of novel integrated farming systems in sensitive wetland habitats and to minimise impacts of aquaculture discharges through the use of wetlands as natural biofilters, and (iii) assessing the dangers associated with introduced aquaculture species using Pacific oysters as a model.

SEAFARE is expected to finish by the end of 2013. During this remaining period, the main research results will be disseminated to policy makers, the general public and targeted stakeholders to increase the use of the knowledge and products developed by the project.