WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2018 11 The scientific community working in aquaculture is currently too small to support future growth of the aquaculture sector. Rodrigue Yossa: What does the future of aquaculture look like in your region? Marc Verdegem: In Europe, marine aquaculture is developing well, mostly with finfish and shellfish. When it comes to inland aquaculture the development is very slow, mostly due to strict regulations regarding the water framework in Europe. Hence, although there are a lot of funds available from the European Union and national agencies in most EU countries, the regulatory system forces farmers to produce at a level and cost that is currently not competitive with imports. So, despite some good initiatives, inland aquaculture is not developing fast and this situation will hardly change if the public does not change its perception that surface waters are part of nature. For marine aquaculture, current public perception leaves more room for development and coincides with a drive from the industry to reduce its environmental impact. Rodrigue Yossa: What does the future of aquaculture look like in the world? Marc Verdegem: Globally the perspective is that aquaculture will continue to grow. However, one of the biggest challenge of global aquaculture will be that, if we want aquaculture production to double, we also need to double the amount of input (feed) that goes into aquaculture. If we really want to develop the Blue Frontier, then we need to think about how we can use the aquatic environment to produce feed for aquaculture. We also need alternatives to the grain and animal products presently used in aquaculture feeds. It will be a challenge to find enough resources to support aquaculture in the future. Rodrigue Yossa: What do you think about professional certification of aquaculturists? Marc Verdegem: Professional certification of aquaculturists has to be established successfully at national levels first, on the basis of the aquaculture realities of each country, before establishing international standards for certified aquaculture professionals. Aquaculturists would be certified as is currently the case with agronomists, who are certified at the national level in several countries around the world. By certifying aquaculturists at the national level through a system that is accepted by the national government and industry, there would be legal and nationallyaccepted values attached to the certification. Rodrigue Yossa: What would you have done differently if you had to restart your career in aquaculture? Marc Verdegem: As a scientist, I work on many aspects of aquaculture research that requires a lot of energy. If I had to restart my career, I would have restricted my research scope early on to focus on one aspect of aquaculture research, try to excel in it and develop an expertise in this field by going so deep that the industry can venture into new frontiers. However, I would do this while still interacting extensively with people in other fields and keeping myself aware of the scientific progress in other areas of aquaculture research. Apart from that, I would not do anything else differently in my career. Rodrigue Yossa: What advice would you give to young aquaculturists? Marc Verdegem: For scientists, focus on what you do. For farmers, consultants and professionals, think internationally. To all, I recommend being open to what is happening in other regions and to ask yourself what can be applied to the situation you are in. Also, be willing to learn the way things are done in other places in the world and to adapt that knowledge to your place to improve your local productivity. Think and act internationally. Editor’s Note – Dr. Yossa can now be reached at r.yossa@ cgiar.org. Aquaculture receives a lot of goodwill because there is a growing debate globally about the “blue revolution,” which is considered as a new frontier for food production. Here the challenge is that we need to venture into this new frontier in a way that we don’t overshoot the capacity of the environment to produce aquatic food for human consumption. If aquaculture continues to develop at the same rate as now, new aquatic products will become available to the public, which will be more inclined to accept “blue” products.
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