Aquaculture’s Global Outlook – Conference
Reaching out How the UK spreads its aquaculture knowledge and training around the world
T
HE world is not equal when it comes to aquaculture, with production dominated by China, but the UK has long had a global role in the sector’s development. This was the message from Professor David Little to a conference, Aquaculture’s Global Outlook: Embracing Internationality, held in Edinburgh on May 29. Little, from Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture, spoke about the British tradition of exporting aquaculture expertise, going back to the industry’s beginnings. In a talk titled ‘Reaching Out: International Collaboration and Cooperation for UK Aquaculture’, he highlighted some of the ways UK based scientists have taken their training and invested it in developing countries. ‘This is a really important part of what Stirling has done over the years…it has brought together partners from around the UK and more globally. ‘Looking back over 40 to 50 years, what makes Brits travel?’ asked Little. ‘Is it a lack of opportunities at home in a relatively slow growing sector? Or is it the range of exciting opportunities or other motives? Is it an altruistic thing?’ He said his own career began in the VSO but rather than being altruistic, he needed a job
38
Seminar.indd 38
Below: Nicki Holmyard addresses delegates at the afternoon conference. Opposite: Professor Little (top); Rural Economy minister Fergus Ewing (top right), who opened the event; delegates; speakers Kolbjorn Giskeodegard of Nordea, Melanie Siggs of the GAA, and Patrick Blow of M&S take part in a panel discussion
and it got him on the path he’s on now. ‘Part of the attraction is that fish is food- is there a special role for aquaculture in terms of poverty alleviation? ‘People go overseas increasingly with research opportunities, as the world gets ever more networked, or with commercial incentives.’ The IoA has been working around the globe since it was established in 1980, and the value and focus of the Institute has always been outward looking, said Little. ‘We have worked in over 50 countries and have trained many students and that presence and international networking is so important.’ But what effect has this global approach had? At the dawn of Scottish salmon in the early 1980s the Institute was invested in a tropical species, tilapia. The Overseas Development Administration (now DFID) invested in positions in Stirling that could start training and researching around tilapias. British scientist Dr Roger Pullin led the research into developing better strains of tilapia, which have been a key part of the farmed species’ success over the last 20 years. ‘It was his vision, together with Norwegian investment, that made the GIFT programme of genetically improved tilapias a reality in the mid1980s, with the whole idea of setting up strains that could be bred and selected on in each of the countries where tilapia was important.’ There were also private streams of investment in genetic improvement in tilapia, with CDC being one of the British institutions that supported tilapias as a business early on. Little mentioned Patrick Blow, a fellow speaker at the conference, now representing M&S, as a pioneer in aquaculture development in Africa. ‘Lake Harvest, which Patrick Blow ran for 20 years, was a reality of modern farming in the middle of Africa, originally selling into the UK but now selling in African markets, because African markets are growing so fast. ‘That hasn’t stopped. African aquaculture is seen as slow growing –and it is compared to Asia – but there are great signs of what’s happening there.’ Little said companies such as Tropo Farms on Lake Volta in Ghana, aiming to produce 10,000 tonnes of tilapia, and Victory Farms in Kenya, had been financed to some extent by UK investors. He saw this as part of an extended network, involving UK people who have taken their training and invested it in developing countries. This was an important part of what Stirling has done over the years. Also, World Fish and FAO have people who got their training in the UK and now are out in the wider world applying that training. And Imani, the development consultancy based in Oban, but heavily invested in Africa, works all over the world, supporting aquaculture development, usually with a business tinge. ‘Modern research isn’t just technical. It’s about engagement in value chains, it’s about the multiple commercial and public sector partners that are now required to do research almost anywhere. ‘It tends to be ever more inter-disciplinary and inter-cultural. And they
www.fishfarmermagazine.com
02/07/2019 12:15:37