18 DECEMBER 2012 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Following three successful previous events in Malta (2006), Alicante, Spain (2008) and Dubrovnik, Croatia (2010), the fourth Offshore Mariculture Conference was held at the Hilton Hotel Izmir, Turkey from 17-19 October 2012. The twoday technical conference was followed by a third day dedicated to a visit to an offshore fish farm. The offshore aquaculture industry has requested that the FAO conduct an assessment of the access and operational frameworks for open ocean mariculture in the High Seas and make recommendations as to how to better encourage work towards mariculture in waters beyond any one nation’s EEZs. A Statement to this effect was drafted at The Offshore Mariculture Conference and the Turkish government offered to formally convey the request to FAO. The Statement adopted at the conclusion of the Conference drew from a number of preceding declarations — including the 2010 Global Conference on Aquaculture, the Phuket Consensus of 2010, and the Colombo Declaration of 2011 — all of which emphasized the critical role for aquaculture in feeding the world, stimulating economic development, providing employment and reducing existing negative impacts on the marine environment. Most recently, the Bremerhaven Declaration of 2012 spoke specifically of the need for increased research, development, investment and policy frameworks for open ocean aquaculture. “There is growing interest from the private sector in exploring the potential for aquaculture in waters that are increasingly deeper, and further offshore” said Conference Chairman, Neil Anthony Sims, of Kampachi Farms, LLC. “Given that many nations — such as those in the Mediterranean — still only exert national authority as far as 12 miles offshore, then there is a looming question about what happens in the “Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction” (ABNJ). We need to start to address this in anticipation of and in order to encourage these developments.” Conference attendees heard keynote presentations from Alessandro Lovatelli, FAO Aquaculture Officer; Paul Holthus of World Ocean Council; and Harald Rosenthal who had Chaired the Bremerhaven Conference. Each spoke of the opportunity and the imperative for aquaculture’s rights and responsibilities to be better defined in ABNJ. Mr. Holthus described how many international conventions and agreements regarding ABNJ are either already established, or are under discussion, without any real consideration of the potential for aquaculture, and with minimal consultation with industry. The Conference was officially opened by Dr. Durali Kocak, the Director-General of Fisheries and Aquaculture at the Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, who described how the Turkish government had prioritized aquaculture development. The industry in Turkey is expanding at a phenomenal rate to meet the growing demand, but care is being taken to ensure that such growth is within the sea’s ecological limits, he said. Other presentations explored a range of planning and management tools that are being set up around the world — the Philippines, Australia, the Basque country of Spain, and host country Turkey — to better integrate aquaculture into coastal planning initiatives. New species development, provision of seed (fish fingerlings or bivalve spat) and feed developments for offshore mariculture were also reviewed. Michael Ebeling, of the Wegner Institute in Germany, and Dr. Amir Neori of the Israeli Oceanographic Institute (together with Gamze Turan of Ege University) spoke on the potential to co-locate aquaculture and offshore energy projects such as wind farms, and the prospects and need for macroalgae culture in offshore locations. Economic analysis of the co-location plans suggests that mussels may prove profitable, but finfish and macroalgae culture require further engineering to achieve efficient scale and valued products. On the second day of the Conference, a number of presentations highlighted engineering improvements to offshore net-pen systems, including dramatic video footage of sharks trying in vain to break through Dyneema’s Pred-X (by Margot van Wunnick and Felipe Ramirez of DSM Dyneema), and AKVA’s Econet / Kikkonet (Douglas Johnson of AKVA, with input on new mesh sizes from Massimo Branzanti of Maccaferri), along with data demonstrating the antifouling properties of brass alloy meshes (Dr. Murat Yigit of Canakkale University, in conjunction with International Copper Association). The day also included reviews of new developments in single-point mooring systems for self-submerging surface pens (Mohamed Shainee of Norway’s NTNU) and for shrimp culture in Aquapods (Steve Page of Ocean Farms Technologies), tension Offshore Mariculture Industry Looks to High Seas Opportunities The offshore aquaculture industry has requested that the FAO conduct an assessment of the access and operational frameworks for open ocean mariculture in the High Seas and make recommendations as to how to better encourage work towards mariculture in waters beyond any one nation’s EEZs. A Statement to this effect was drafted at The Offshore Mariculture Conference and the Turkish government offered to formally convey the request to FAO. Conference Report
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