Aquaculture Institutes conference – Fishfarmer Magazine

Aquaculture Institutes conference01 June, 2010 –

THE Institute of Aquaculture will hold its second research conference at the University of Stirling on Monday 28 June 2010.

In October 2008 the Institute held its inaugural PhD Research conference, which was attended by 240 people. Delegates listened to a number of presentations and had the opportunity to view 40 poster presentations on a wide range of aquaculture research topics.  Student researchers from Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, studying at the University of Stirling, presented their results to an audience of academics and aquaculture industry personnel from Scotland, the UK and Europe. 

Delegates this year will be able to attend all parts of the conference, listen to oral presentation and view posters, exchange knowledge and discuss ideas with researchers and fellow delegates. Peter Hajipieris, Chief Technical, Sustainability & External Affairs Officer at Birds Eye Iglo, will present the keynote speech, titled “Why is Aquaculture so popular with industry and can it be sustainable?”.

Hajipieris has more than 28 years’ experience in the seafood industry and is a champion of Sustainable Fisheries Development. He has held various quality and commercial roles at the Sea Fish Industry Authority and was Business Development Manager for Fish at Sainsbury’s.  More recently (2006) he was UK Policy Manager for Seafood at Tesco where amongst other things he set tough sustainability standards for aquaculture products and developed the first global Responsible Sourcing Standard for fishmeal and fish oil that is used in aquaculture with the IFFO.

In 2008, Hajipieris  joined Birds Eye Iglo which has a long heritage in Sustainable Fisheries Development, at a time when aquaculture products are increasingly being sold in the frozen food sector. Peter is a member of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council Board that has been set up by WWF to accredit responsible fish farming practices for key species.

The conference is sponsored by Stirling Graduate Research School, Novartis Animals Vaccines Limited, Skretting Limited, Biomar Limited, EWOS Innovation, Scottish Aquaculture Research forum, Lighthouse Caledonia, Wiley Blackwell, Thistle Scientific, Marine Harvest, Marine Harvest Scotland, MASTS Graduate School, Intervet Shering Plough, and Birds Eye Iglo.