Triumph For Aquaculture UK 2010

Aquaculture UK 2010 at Aviemore succeeded as a place to do business, to network and to catch up with all the latest developments, said Dan Barth from Washington State who opened the conference with an overview of mariculture.

More than 60 per cent of the exhibitors have already confirmed they will be returning in 2012 when the biennial event will be held on 23rd and 24th of May.

Organisers, Ascomber, have pledged additional exhibition space for 2012. This year’s exhibition was sold out two months before the event and 12 companies who wanted to exhibit were disappointed.

Visitors enjoyed unusually good weather although the hills surrounding the McDonald Aviemore Highland Resort were still snow covered. There was attendance from more than 20 countries despite volcanic ash problems two days before which delayed the large Norwegian contingent by over 10 hours.

Exhibitors have been enthusing about the event - expressing pleasure about the numbers, the great atmosphere, the business done and the facilities.

Gregor Sutherland from Sterner AquaTech UK expressed how good it was to meet up with friends and customers old and new and was gratified by the amount of interest in Sterner’s product range and for the orders placed.

“Aquaculture 2010 went really well for us,” said Neil Crawford of Inverness Aquatic Hygiene who is among those who have reserved the same spot for 2012. “This Aviemore event is undoubtedly better than Glasgow in terms of doing business and meeting up with potential customers.”

First time anywhere exhibitor Joanna Buitelaar Warden’s company FCCA offer welfare audit, training and consultancy. “I met a lot of my existing customers and picked up plenty of new contacts. The conference sessions gave me the steer I wanted on what was happening in the market. Overall the cost was very competitive and the service from the organisers was excellent.”

“Getting my team face to face with site managers and staff, was the main advantage for Biomar,” according to Technical Support Manager Nick Bradbury, who also appreciated the conference paper on the new fishmeal and fish oil certification programme being introduced worldwide by the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation ( IFFO).

Audiences for the conference sessions were good and especially large on day two to hear Brian Dornan, Head of Aquaculture Policy at Marine Scotland, Scott Lansburgh of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation and Douglas Low of EWOS outline the industry’s own vision for the future.

David Mack of Ascomber is receptive to comments and suggestions: “Quite a few said they would prefer to have a buffet, rather than sit down, dinner - with a lower ticket price, and we will work on encouraging more Shetlanders to make the trip.

“However my considerable powers do not extend to climate change,” he said. “This year late bedroom bookers were competing with skiers for bedrooms around Aviemore. I think this was a one one-off and snow is very unlikely to be an issue on May 23rd and 24th 2012 for the next Aquaculture UK. Entry will remain free for those with bona fide aquaculture interests.”