Blue food, green solutions
Copenhagen is the venue for an event that will bring together aquaculture expertise from all over the world.
The eyes of the world’s aquaculture sector will be on Copenhagen this August, when the city hosts AQUA 2024, a joint event co-organised by the European Aquaculture Society (EAS) and the World Aquaculture Society (WAS).
The AQUA events are held every six years. Past events took place in Nice (2000), Florence (2006), Prague (2012) and Montpellier (2018).
AQUA 2024 will take place from August 26-30 at the Bella Arena in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. It will comprise a scientific conference, trade exhibition, industry forums, workshops, student events and receptions. The event will highlight the latest aquaculture research and innovation to underpin continued growth of this exciting food production sector.
Copenhagen Aquarium
Denmark accounts for around half the European Union’s production from recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). The main aquatic species farmed in the country are rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) raised in fresh- and saltwater, and blue mussels (Mytilus edulis). The increasing use of intensive recirculating aquaculture schemes (RAS), however, has also introduced new species (Atlantic salmon, kingfish and pikeperch).
Denmark is also a leading player in the production of technology for RAS farming, as well as fishmeal and fish oil processing and aquafeed production, making it an important part of the aquaculture sector as a whole.
AQUA 2024 will be a showcase for Denmark, and its innovation leadership in several key technologies crucial for future aquaculture, but also a meeting and exchange platform for experts from around the world.
The overarching theme of the event is “Blue Food, Green Solutions” and the scientific conference will include more than 60 sessions covering all aspects of aquaculture research.
Bella Centre
The organisers say: “Food systems transformation is a crucial requirement to mitigate climate impacts and offer enhanced food safety and security to billions. Aquaculture has demonstrated its resilience to change and is increasingly recognised for its environmental responsibility, reduced footprint and high efficiency in protein transformation and provision.
“As our knowledge increases, so does our potential ability to offer Green Solutions throughout the aquaculture (and seafood) value chain. These solutions need not only to be financially feasible, they must also be based on the intelligent and sustainable utilisation of resources to maintain a measurable and limited footprint.”
AQUA 2024 has been organised with the support of local partners, the Danish Export Association Fish Tech, the (the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU AQUA), the University of Copenhagen, EUROFISH and the Copenhagen Convention Bureau.
The Gold sponsor for the event is BioMar; Silver sponsors are Biorigin, US Soy, University of Stavanger and the Blue Planet Academy; and Aquasoja is a session sponsor.
Programme highlights
The programme grid, showing sessions over the days is now online at was.org/meeting/pdf/AQUA24_ProgrammeGrid.pdf
It shows the parallel abstract-based scientific sessions, as well as the forums and special sessions that will take place and specifically targeted towards operators and producers.
Dag Sletmo
Plenary speakers
Speaking at the first plenary session on Tuesday 27 August, Dag Sletmo will address the issue of “Analysing the future”.
The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation says we need to increase sustainable aquaculture production by at least 75% by 2040 if we are going to limit global warming to 1.5C. Dag Sletmo will share his top-down financial perspective on what it will take to grow aquaculture production significantly. The demand drivers are in place, the challenge is increasing supply and at the same time reduce the environmental footprint. That will require new technology, better farming practises, and better regulations. As an industry depending very much on government regulations, it also needs a strong social license in order to achieve these goals. And where will the money come from?
DNB Bank’s aquaculture activity is very focused on salmon, but Sletmo will also address aquaculture more generally. DNB is the leading bank in Norway and the largest bank globally in salmon farming with clients in Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Scotland, Canada, Chile and Australia.
Prior to joining DNB, Dag Sletmo worked in Cermaq, the global salmon farmer, and ABG Sundal Collier, a Nordic investment bank. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York and has studied economics and philosophy at NHH and UiB in Bergen.
Where can AI take us?
Signe Riemer-Sørensen will be speaking on Friday 30 August, the last day of the conference.
She will be talking about “AI with knowledge”. Large language models have democratised artificial intelligence (AI), and copilots and chatbots are changing most office jobs but despite their impact, they will not revolutionise aquaculture, Riemer-Sørensen argues. For that we need completely different types of AI.
Through examples from aquaculture and beyond, she will explain the challenges, provide intuitive insights into AI, and introduce the latest developments on industrial AI and their potential in aquaculture.
Signe Riemer-Sørensen
Signe Riemer-Sørensen is Senior Researcher and Research Manager for Analytics and AI in SINTEF. Her research evolves around overcoming challenges for implementing machine learning and artificial intelligence in a broad range of industrial settings where physics plays a role and data is often sparse and noisy. The solutions integrate domain knowledge into the AI, in so-called “hybrid AI”, fostering robust, explainable and trustworthy models.
This final plenary will be followed by the AQUA 2024 Poster Awards, overseen by the AQUA 2024 Programme co-chairs, Luisa Valente (CIIMAR, Portugal), Lorenzo Juarez (WAS, USA), Kjell Maroni (FHF, Norway) and Anne Cooper (ICES, Denmark). This will see the best online presentations of the conference judged by an expert panel.
Girl with rainbow trout
Industry and Innovation Forums
A regular feature of EAS events is the Industry Forum and the Innovation Forum and these will take place during AQUA 2024.
The Industry Forum will be held all day on Tuesday 27 August and will address the main event theme, with key questions about the status and future of the sector with regards to adaptation to climate change, mitigation of its effects, circular approaches and other externalities.
It will be divided into several panel discussions, overseen by master of ceremonies for the day, Lise Walbom, CEO, Food Nation Denmark.
The AQUA 2024 Innovation Forum is being co-organised by EAS, EATiP (European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform) and the European Commission.
It will be held all day on Wednesday 28 August and will take the title “Exploring Inter-Regional Collaboration & Innovation Transfer vehicles for Aquaculture.”
The Forum will explore collaboration for innovation transfer through the lens of EU policy and initiatives, but also at the global level. It comprises four sessions, with a mix of presentation and interactive discussions, to address key questions.
Session 1: European Aspirations for Inter-Regional Innovation transfer
Session 2: Inter-Regional Innovation Landscape in Practice: case studies on how innovation transfer vehicles promote advances in aquaculture
Session 3: Innovation Transfer Within the Aquaculture Research Community
Session 4 – Facilitation, Funding Models and Future Calls for Inter-regional innovation transfer.
The detailed programmes for both forums are currently being finalised and will be online at the events website www.aquaeas.org in early July.
Blue foods are key to the developing world’s economy
Special sessions
Several special sessions at AQUA 2024 will seek to bridge the gap between science and industry.
• Quantitative Atlantic Salmon Health Assessment.
• EUROshrimp Forum.
• Aquaculture Stewardship Council workshop on “Future aquafeed supply chains in a transitioning industry and a changing climate“.
• Host Resistance to Sea Lice
• Light and Fish – And Light and other organisms
• IMTA and low-trophic aquaculture.
As above, the detailed programmes of these sessions will be online at the events website in July.
Exhibition
The AQUA 2024 exhibition is just about sold out, with more than 240 booths from suppliers and operators covering all aspects of aquaculture production at the global level. All coffee breaks and happy hours will be held in the exhibition hall to maximise interaction and some 1,400 trade show visitors are expected.
Fish Farmer will be among the exhibitors represented, and visitors to our stand will have the chance to win the magazine’s daily prize draw.
Tilapia are among the most widely farmed fish, worldwide
Tours
On the Monday preceding the event, the organisers are offering several tours.
• AQ24 A_DTU: Tour high-tech facilities at the Danish Technical University (DTU) National Food Institute – side streams and research into new ingredients from marine raw materials. Monday, August 26. Morning. Cost: €25 per person. Maximum 30 persons
• AQ24 B_OXYGUARD: Visit OxyGuard International’s Danish headquarters. Monday, August 26. Morning. Cost: €25 per person. Maximum 30 persons
• AQ24 C_MAREL: A visit to the MAREL Progress Point global Demo Center, to see cutting-edge solutions and software for fish processing. Monday, August 26. Morning. Cost: €25 per person. Maximum 50 persons
• AQ24 D_AQUARIUM: A behind the scenes tour of the Danish National Aquarium (Den Blå Planet) – Northern Europe’s largest aquarium. Monday, August 26. Afternoon. Cost: €60 per person. Maximum 50 persons.
Factsheets on all tours are available on the “Travel” top menu of www.aquaeas.org and registrants can sign up for them during the registration process.
Early Bird registration for AQUA 2024 is at www.aquaeas.org/Registration/Submit/AQUA24E
Blue mussels
AQUA 2024 – the key numbers
• Expected conference delegates: 1,400
• Total expected participation: 2,500
• Countries represented: 90
• Conference sessions: 60
• Special sessions, industry forums and workshops: 12
• Tradeshow booths: 240
• Tradeshow visitors: 1,200
