The new centre will bring together industry and research to provide innovative solutions with the aim of growing the already substantial contribution aquaculture makes to the Scottish economy.
World leaders, business executives, scientists and environmental activists met last week at a two day summit to discuss sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and ocean acidification.
The "Our Ocean" conference organised by US Secretary of State John Kerry and held in Washington DC, USA, in order to deal with the major threats to the world's oceans.
Addressing the conference via video, President Obama re-iterated his commitment to preventing illegally caught fish entering the US marketplace and the protection of the marine environment through the expansion of US marine reserves.
The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) has released its annual sustainability overview of fisheries for small pelagic species in the Atlantic Ocean and South America that are important for fishmeal and fish oil.
The report found that about two thirds of fish come from relatively well managed fisheries. A slightly smaller proportion – 55 per cent - would meet the current feed requirements of the leading aquaculture certifications. The other 33 per cent of fish originate from stocks that are not well managed, although only 17.8 per cent of fish come from fisheries that are actually depleted.
Commenting on the results, Jim Cannon, CEO of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, said: “This report brings both good news for the fishmeal and oil industry and a strong note of caution about the future. Many of these fisheries are well managed and it’s a credit to the industry that more than half the fish can meet the current feed requirements of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. However, there is an increasing body of scientific knowledge that suggests we need to adopt a more precautionary approach when managing some stocks of small pelagic fish and this may well have implications for the fishmeal and oil industry in the future.”
