The event, which took place at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), featured presentations from a range of aquaculture experts, from both the industry and academia, covering a wide range of subjects, but with a focus very much on marine finfish.
Isabel Represas, INVE’s regional sales director in Europe, welcomed delegates, noting that: “Since the last edition we’ve worked hard to understand how to improve fry quality and achieve the best results at farming gate. During the event we will not only bring you the latest information on the most recent developments on fry quality, microbial management and fish stress understanding - but we will also create a discussion platform between the leading marine fish hatcheries.”
Given the focus of the event, the majority were hatchery managers from key bass and bream producers in the Mediterranean region, but the rise of cleaner fish production meant that farmers from as far as Norway attended too.
On day one the key speakers included Patrick Sorgeloos, emeritus professor of Aquaculture at Ghent University; Alessandro Moretti, INVE’s product manager fish hatchery and artemia; Nikos Papandroulakis (HCMR research director); Tania De Wolf, R&D Manager of INVE’s test centre IARC, Deborah M Power, professor of biotechnology at the University of Portugal, Katerina Moutou, associate professor in vertebrate biology at the University of Thessaly; and Professor Giorgios Koumoundouros from the University of Crete.
The following day kicked off with a talk on why reducing stress in farmed fish is vital for increasing the sustainability of aquaculture operations by Prof Johan Aerts from the University Ghent. And the event was, fittingly, concluded by some insights into how marine finfish aquaculture in Europe is likely to develop by INVE’s CEO, Athene Blakeman, Isabel Represas and Aga Jagiello-Johnstone from Benchmark Animal Health.
Throughout the event participants were able to post questions via ParticiPol, allowing delegates the chance to have their questions addressed by presenters and offering INVE some valuable insights into customer needs.
