The October 2023 issue of Fish Farmer is out now

The October issue of Fish Farmer magazine is out now online and you can read or download it here.

Our cover story this month focuses on seaweed farming, an industry that is already huge in Asia and offers a fascinating potential in Europe and the UK especially. But what are the barriers that will need to be overcome to realise that potential?

We also report on the European Aquaculture Society’s annual conference in Vienna. Holding the conference in land-locked Austria offered a reminder that aquaculture is not just about the marine economy – freshwater fish farming is part of the food system too and it will need to thrive if Europe is to achieve improved food security.

As those attending the conference discovered, traditional pond farming is highly sustainable, but climate change and economics are proving very problematic for this sector. You can read more about the conference in our report, starting on page 34.

The freshwater theme continues with our feature on trout farming which finds that these farmers are facing many of the same challenges as the much larger salmon sector.

Meanwhile, as Salmon Scotland’s Tavish Scott writes in his column this month, although this has been another difficult year for salmon farming, the latest survival rates indicate that solutions are being found despite warming seas.

You can also read a round-up of the latest developments in land based farming and hatcheries. Investment continues around the world in facilities to grow salmon – and other species – to harvest size without ever placing them in the sea. Technical difficulties and rising costs for a number of these have, however, demonstrated that combining new technology with biology is a risky business.

The October issue of Fish Farmer also features the concept of the circular economy, with a profile of EcoFishCircle – a company that aims to use waste from fish production to help create fish feed – and an article from BlueBio’s Ingeborg Korme on the regulatory issues in Europe that are holding back the development of a truly circular food system.