Sustainability is top of mind at this week’s World Fishing Exhibition (WFE) and AQA Conference in Vigo, Spain.
Elena Espinosa, Spain’s Minister of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, underlined sustainability’s importance to kick off the first ever World Summit on Sustainable Fishing in Vigo on Tuesday.
“Harmonious politics in a globalized world is needed since the sustainable development of fishing and coastal communities and the security and conservation of marine resources depend on it,” said Espinosa.
Sustainability also takes center stage at the AQA Conference “Marine aquaculture: the 21st century opportunity and challenge for world fishing” on Friday. The first ever AQA Conference, which focuses on aquaculture, is collocated with the WFE.
One of the conference’s speakers is Dr. José Iglesias of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography in Vigo. In his recent paper, “Research and development into new species for commercial marine aquaculture,” he discusses small-scale fisheries in Galicia using modified mussel sea rafts to raise octopus in floating sea cages.
“With this system, one family or small [fishing] association can grow 3,000 octopus every 3 to 4 months, enough to feed 9,000 individuals per year,” said Iglesias. “For the first time in the world our team has managed the whole culture process from paralarvae to adult. Industrial projects have to focus on growing sub-adults in tanks or sea cages, and minimum legal sizes are needed to maintain sustainability. This method could be applied in rural or subsistence aquaculture in developing countries in Latin America and Africa.
“Researchers need to solve the ‘bottleneck’ of the larvae rearing process within the next three years to reach industrial levels for the whole octopus culture cycle, enabling octopus to become a serious candidate for aquaculture,” he added.
Tony Legg of Jersey Sea Farms in the Channel Islands off France is also speaking at the conference. He is involved in the integrated polyculture of oysters, abalone and seaweed in the sea and in recirculation facilities.
A partner in the SUDEVAB Project (Sustainable Development of European Small and Medium Enterprises Engaged in Abalone Aquaculture), Legg talks about the challenges of entering the aquaculture industry: “Through SUDEVAB we have taken all of the known restrictive issues head-on. All of us in the industry have been on the receiving end of some or all of these, and most problems are common.
“There are two levels of sustainability at play here, firstly economic sustainability,” said Legg. “This requires a developing market that matches increasing production, hopefully avoiding under or oversupply. Undersupply will be the most damaging issue. Once a reasonable quantity is reaching the market then environmental sustainability becomes a very important purchase driver. We take this very seriously, and even at this early stage we’re actively discussing with the World Wildlife Fund and a range of environmental [groups] to ensure that we are following the best environmental practices.”
