Naua Lakai lives on Vava’u, one of the 36 inhabited islands of Tonga. She dropped out of teachers’ college when she became a mother and is now one of the most successful pearl farmers on her island.
Julie Kuchepatov describes her dedication to environmental sustainability and social responsibility, what inspired her to establish SAGE and why driving tractors in Sakhalin can be a perilous occupation.
Through her own shellfish hatchery, Victoria Parks has been taking steps to support local clam growers in Florida and maintain healthy, sustainable farming practices.
Thai Union's global director of corporate affairs and sustainability, reflects on working with NGOs, improving the company's labour conditions and and stamping out slavery in the fishmeal supply chain.
Originally from Normandy, Anais Legendre has been working at Cycle Farms in Ghana for nearly three years, engaging with an increasingly vibrant aquaculture sector and stocking up on some colourful tales.
Former oyster farmer and athlete Imani Black recently founded Minorities in Aquaculture in order to champion women and diversity in the aquaculture sector. As well as running the non-profit she is about to begin graduate school at UMCES.
Kara Birkenmayer grew up in Johannesburg, studied at Harvard and, after a short shift of work experience in Panama, ended up in the Seychelles where she is leading a team of inspiring women working on the culture of some very interesting and upcoming aquacultu…
Lara Barazi has been CEO of Kefalonia for 22 years, in the process growing production volumes of certified organic seabass and sea bream from 300 to 5,000 tonnes a year.
Born in Freeport, Maine, Emily Selinger quickly fell in love with working on the water. After getting a captain’s licence and working on schooners along the East Coast, she returned to Freeport and set up her own oyster farm, Emily’s Oysters.
Kana Banno, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) talks about her transition from aquaculture in Japan, to that of Norway and why fish behaviour and welfare are so important in salmon farming.
When talking to people about the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI), one of the most common questions I get asked is how did a young woman end up being CEO of a global organisation mainly dominated by men?
Funke Olatunde Kechicha is a catfish producer at Imoran Farms and PhD student at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. She recently won the Rising Star category at the 2020 Aquaculture Awards and is looking forward to both improving her own production and to he…
In order to follow up on the interest generated by our Women in Aquaculture series with some proactive steps towards encouraging women to realise their potential in the sector, in March The Fish Site established a pilot mentoring programme.
As The Fish Site builds up to the launch of a Women in Aquaculture print publication at Aqua Nor and a seminar on the same theme at AE2019, we are adding several new interviews. Here Sam Macdonald, president of Deep Trekker, explains what drew her into the fis…
Professor Selina Stead, who was appointed director of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture at the beginning of March, discusses why it’s a great time to be involved in aquaculture – regardless of your gender.
A seminar looking at ways to ensure greater gender diversity at all levels of the aquaculture sector is scheduled to take place in Berlin on 9 October, as part of this year’s Aquaculture Europe (AE2019) conference.
Seaweed aquaculture is prominent across Japan, but in the southern prefecture of Saga it has a particularly successful history. Home to seaweed farming for more than a century, Saga faces the Ariake Sea, which is known for its nutrient-rich waters. Fresh wate…
Originally from Brittany, Marie-Aude Danguy has been living and working in Ireland since the 1990s. She began working with a group of local shellfish farmers before establishing her own company, Triskell Seafood Ltd, which specialises in live shellfish.
The emeritus professor of functional ecology at the University of Glasgow, who is one of the world’s preeminent experts on fish behaviour, discusses salmon welfare, nesting sticklebacks… and a near death experience while at work.
Dr Jesse Trushenski, director of science at Riverence and its sister company, Evaqua Farms, president of the American Fisheries Society and author of Understanding Aquaculture, describes her perfect jobs, the need to network and a particularly memorable seafoo…
Victoria Alday-Sanz, director of biosecurity and breeding programmes at Saudi Arabia's National Aqua Group (NAQUA), talks about the challenges of looking after 80,000 tonnes of fish and shrimp each year.
The Fish Site's Women in Aquaculture series was highlighted at a recent seminar at the United Nations University in Tokyo, which focused on women's roles in the seafood sector.
Linn Therese Skår Hosteland grew up helping her family produce salmon, cod and halibut on a farm in western Norway. Despite wanting to escape the sector at 15, she has no regrets at returning in 2014 – first as a journalist, most recently as communications off…
Dr Laura Braden, an eminent sea lice researcher who now works for AquaBounty, lives on Prince Edward Island, Canada, with her husband-to-be, a young baby, two German shepherds and a Norwegian forest cat. Here, she explains how genetic engineering can help save…
Patricia Barrera swapped a career in pharmaceuticals to follow her passion for aquaculture, establishing Trout Managers SAS in Colombia, which she now runs.
After several years conducting fish health checks in aquariums, Marie Tan switched to aquaculture to help minimise fish losses from disease and develop health strategies to respond quickly to disease outbreaks.
In the course of a decade in aquaculture Kyra Hoevenaars has worked with all manner of fish species in some of the most politically turbulent countries on the planet
Following a knee injury Ragnhild Jesica Bjella swapped life as a chef for work as a commercial diver for Norway’s salmon-farming industry. Despite a number of close encounters with Greenland sharks, she hasn’t looked back since.
Not content with merely transforming an abandoned fish farm into a thriving catfish-farming cluster, Benedicta Peter-Ugheoke is also an aquaculture trainer and consultant who has helped encourage many female Nigerians to join the sector
Shweta Vakil, director of one of India's largest aquaculture companies, explains how her role involves working with hatcheries, farmers and the post-production sector to take shrimps “from farm to fork”.
Liris Maduningtyas, entrepreneur, shrimp farmer and CEO of Jala Tech, outlines how she plans to use data mining to improve shrimp health in Indonesia and beyond.
Sarah Last explains how she helped to transform the fortunes of one of the most isolated, technologically challenging and logistically complicated salmon farms in Scotland.
Joana Amaral would like to use her 20+ years of experience in marine hatcheries to help encourage the complete replacement of live feed for larval finfish, a goal that she’s currently working on with BioMar.
Margie Saul, a minnow farmer and bait delivery driver from Arkansas, discusses problems caused by permits, pelicans and encounters with exhibitionists on the highways of the USA
Dr Flower Msuya, chairperson and facilitator at the Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster Initiative (ZaSCI) works in villages in Zanzibar to study climate change, modify farming methods and add value to seaweed. As the Tanzanian island’s seaweed aquaculture takes off, Dr …
Dr Carly Daniels, research and development manager at the National Lobster Hatchery in Cornwall, hopes that her pioneering lobster growing trial will not only kick-start a viable lobster aquaculture industry but also help to enhance the local lobster fishery t…
