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December 2012
A free e-mail news service provided by AquaTT on education, training, news and events in Aquaculture and related sectors. The newsletter currently reaches over 6000 international recipients on a monthly basis. Please submit any relevant information for inclusion in next month's edition to news@aquatt.ie
*Please note that the AquaTT newsletter and AquaTT calendar are best viewed in Mozilla Firefox.
Contents
1. Education and Events
To search for MSc programmes, MSc and PhD courses, and other training opportunities (short courses, online courses, work placements, etc) in aquaculture, fisheries and aquatic resource management, please visit the Aqua-tnet Education Gate @ http://aquatnet.djangofoo.com/. This interactive web portal is the one-stop-shop for education in your field.
For information on all educational opportunities (courses, workshops, etc), as well as general events (conferences, meetings, etc) please refer to the AquaTT Announcement newsletter which is sent out with Training News. A comprehensive overview of all events is given in the AquaTT Calendar.
Please CLICK HERE to go to the archives of AquaTT Training News and Announcements.
2. Collaboration
Mediterranean Aquaculture Leaders Join Forces
 Leaders from the Mediterranean Aquaculture sector put aside their competitive differences at the inaugural Med-Aqua CEO Event, which took place in Athens, Greece on the 13th December 2012. This groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind event provided a rare opportunity for senior managers from fish farming and supply industry companies, as well as senior representatives from fish farmers' associations to come together to discuss, debate and explore the principal barriers facing the sector. In all, 37 senior executives from Greece, Turkey, Spain, Cyprus, Croatia, and Israel attended the event.
One of the key messages from the event was that investors like stability and are willing to invest in the potential of aquaculture. However, boom and bust cycles were recognised to be seriously damaging the Mediterranean aquaculture industry. Participants agreed that the sector needs to reach a maturity level to be able to self-organise and learn to predict and eventually control these cycles, thereby ensuring the sector's sustainability. To achieve this, closer communication and cooperation between all stakeholders is needed to develop a road map to secure this sustainability.
The event provided a unique opportunity for industry actors to join forces to address external competition and to ensure that the ambitions of the sector are realised. The Med-Aqua CEO Event was organised under the auspices of INTRANEMMA, a European Commission-funded project. The INTRANEMMA project was conceptualised by AQUARK (Greece) and AquaTT (Ireland), and is led by three producer associations, the Federation of Greek Maricultures (Greece), APROMAR (Spain), and Mugla (Turkey). Dr. Panos Christofilogiannis (Managing Director of AQUARK, INTRANEMMA coordinator, and Med-Aqua CEO Event local organiser) co-chaired the event alongside Mr. Bjorn Myrseth (MORPOL Board member and recipient of the FEAP Excellence Award 2011). Download the full press release here (PDF).
If you would like further information about the Med-Aqua CEO Event or the INTRANEMMA project, please contact Dr. Panos Christofilogiannis, INTRANEMMA coordinator: panos@aquark.gr
Photo: Participants at Med-Aqua CEO Event 2012, Athens, Greece
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AQUAEXCEL:
giving aquaculture researchers the unique opportunity to carry out
research at a key European aquaculture research facility
 European aquaculture researchers are offered the unique chance to undertake specialised research at 23 top aquaculture research facilities all around Europe. The project titled AQUAEXCEL (Aquaculture Infrastructures for Excellence in European Fish Research) is an EU FP7 project that aims to integrate key aquaculture research infrastructures across Europe in order to promote their coordinated use and development. Through collaboration with 17 partners and 23 facilities, AQUAEXCEL offers access to top class research infrastructures for both basic and applied research, giving aquaculture research groups the opportunity to utilise AQUAEXCEL’s facilities.
Interested researchers can propose projects that are compliant with the EATIP Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda, and that involve visits of one or two people to a Research Infrastructure that provides facilities not available in their own country, for periods of up to three months. Access to the research facilities and associated travel and subsistence expenses will be paid for under the project, that is supported by the European Union 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (Infrastructures).
The 4th Call for Access opened 21st December 2012. Deadline is 15th March 2013.
For more information: www.aquaexcel.eu/call_for_access or download the brochure here.
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SEAFARE Project Delivers Promising Results
 The SEAFARE project made vital dissemination and knowledge transfer decisions in relation to its research outputs during its sixth group meeting, held on the 4th and 5th December 2012 in Dublin. The meeting was crucially important as it enabled project partners to discuss, identify and plan the actions necessary to ensure that the project's research-based knowledge outputs are transferred to the correct end users.
The meeting was attended by representatives from Bangor University (UK), IFAPA (Spain), IPMA (Portugal), the Marine Institute (Ireland), and hosted by AquaTT, the SEAFARE project partner responsible for the dissemination, targeted communication, and knowledge management of the project. Daniel Lee, SEAFARE project coordinator, said: “The SEAFARE partnership is developing new research to support sustainable and environmentally friendly aquaculture in the Atlantic region of Europe. Now that the project is nearing completion, it is crucial for SEAFARE that we ensure the main research outputs of the project are communicated to targeted end users. It's during this stage of the project that dissemination, communication and knowledge transfer activities are most relevant, and I am glad to count on AquaTT’s experience in this field".
David Murphy, AquaTT’s manager, stated: “It is a pleasure for us to hold this meeting in Dublin. The SEAFARE project comprises several sub-projects and it’s very interesting how all of them converge into one common goal: the development of solutions to specific constraints on industry development for Europe’s fish and shellfish farmers through the development of low-intensity aquaculture systems that are compatible with sensitive coastal habitats”.
SEAFARE is expected to finish by the end of 2013. During this remaining period, the main research results will be disseminated to policy makers, the general public and targeted stakeholders to increase the use of the knowledge and products developed by the project. For more information visit the SEAFARE webpage www.seafareproject.eu. Download the press release here (PDF).
Photo: SEAFARE partner meeting, Dublin, Ireland
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HEALTHY FUTURES – Researchers collaborate to explore links between Environmental Change and Vector-Borne Diseases in eastern Africa
 The HEALTHY FUTURES (Health, environmental change and adaptive capacity) and QWeCI (Quantifying Quantifying Weather and Climate Impacts on Health in Developing Countries) projects will jointly host a symposium on links between climate and vector-borne diseases (VBDs) at the upcoming 4th East African Community Health and Scientific Conference, scheduled for 27th–29th March 2013 in Kigali, Rwanda. The symposium will bring together researchers at the cutting edge of research in understanding the relationships between health and environment and, in particular, links between climate and VBDs in Africa.
In addition, HEALTHY FUTURES in collaboration with the CGIAR program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), held a stakeholder workshop on the 6th November 2012 at the International Livestock Research Institute campus in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of this workshop was to engage with regional experts from a range of disciplines with the aim of looking at potential futures of VDBs in East Africa. The approach was guided by HEALTHY FUTURES' ethos of a bottom-up, end-user/stakeholder-focused approach.
Participants at the workshop discussed future scenarios of socio-economic development in the region and its implications for the spread and control of malaria, schistosomiasis and Rift Valley fever. The outcomes of the workshop included the development of an inventory of interventions to tackle the target diseases and decisions on the next steps forward to ensure qualitative and quantitative information will finally feed into vulnerability assessments and decision support systems.
HEALTHY FUTURES is currently developing a project database of existing and new relevant data relating to the emergence and outbreaks of its three target VBDs in the study area and drawn from a range of primary and secondary sources. It is due for completion in late 2013 and will be publicly accessible via the HEALTHY FUTURES website. For more information please visit: http://www.healthyfutures.eu/.
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FORCE 2nd Partners’ meeting a success
 The
FP7 project FORCE (Fisheries and aquaculture-Oriented Research Capacity
in Egypt) held its second partners’ meeting in Venice, Italy, 10 – 11
December. The consortium consisting of 4 partners, 2 from Italy and 1
each from Egypt and Ireland, and invited guest experts from Italy and
Egypt, spent two days in Venice discussing the progress and
accomplishments from the first year of the project and preparing
activities and the way forward for the next year. The success of the
meeting was also boosted by the attendance of the EC Officer attached to
the project who provided guidance for project progress.
The project is designed to enhance the capacity of the Egyptian National
Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, NIOF, to carry out research
activities aimed at supporting the implementation of sound and
science-based policies for the sustainable development of fishing and
aquaculture in Egypt, as well as in the whole Mediterranean North
African region. NIOF is the coordinating partner of FORCE, with Università Ca' Foscari Venezia (Italy), The Fishing Technology Unit, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Sciences (Italy) and AquaTT (Ireland) comprising the consortium.
For more information please visit the project website http://www.forceproject.eu or download the project factsheet as a PDF at http://www.forceproject.eu/images/force.pdf.
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AQUAEXCEL Newsletter 2012
 Project News features an interview with AQUAEXCEL coordinator Dr. Marc Vandeputte (INRA) in which he discusses the project’s purpose and outlines the key role it plays in supporting European aquaculture research. He explains that in a nutshell, AQUAEXCEL is here to improve aquaculture research capacities in the EU. He also outlines that the project is helping to develop remote access capabilities for researchers, i.e. it reduces the need for researchers to be continuously on site.
AQUAEXCEL is a transnational access programme that could be of huge interest to industry. By participating in the AQUAEXCEL transnational access program, industry can benefit from the highest competences and the best experimental structures available and for a very minor cost, as all costs of accessing the infrastructure are covered by the EU. Dr. Vandeputte suggests that industry should probably not use AQUAEXCEL’s transnational access program for applied research (testing Product A against Product B with commercial, non-disclosed formulae) but rather to explore new, more risky directions, where the benefits of working with the best EU research teams will be maximal. The newsletter also includes an interview with three researchers who have used the project to access aquaculture infrastructures in Europe, and details about the AQUAEXCEL-ATOl Ontology and AQUAEXCEL’s online Aquaculture Research Infrastructure map. Project News can be accessed at: http://www.aquaexcel.eu/images/aquaexcel_newsletter_november_2012.pdf
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3. Other
Europeans must continue to drive marine biodiversity research
Despite the many advances Europeans have made in marine biodiversity science, it is important that they do not become complacent and stop improving our understanding of this area of science, stresses the European Marine Board. Its future science brief, entitled 'Marine biodiversity: a science roadmap for Europe' is available at http://www.marineboard.eu/images/publications/Marine%20Biodiversity-122.pdf.
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Limassol Declaration: Giving the Europe 2020 Strategy a strong maritime dimension
The Cyprus Presidency has set the promotion of the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) as a strategic priority in the European Union, the President of the Republic of Cyprus Mr Demetris Christofias said, pointing out that the EU should develop cooperation with third countries with which the Union shares the same sea basin. In his speech at the ceremony for the “Limassol Declaration” on the EU’s IMP, in the presence of the President of the European Commission Mr José Manuel Barroso, President Christofias said that the IMP aims to increase Europe’s ability to tackle the challenges that arise from globalisation and competitiveness, from climatic changes, the degradation of the maritime environment, the security and protection of shipping, as well as energy security and viability. Read more at http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/documents/limassol_en.pdf.
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Evidence of climate change all over Europe
The latest report on the effects of climate change across Europe has recently been published by the European Environment Agency (EEA), with some startling conclusions. 'Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012' (EEA Report No 12/2012) claims that climate change is affecting all regions in Europe, with a wide range of impacts on society and the environment. Further impacts are expected in the future - with the potential to cause increased damage costs. Read more at http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=35279.
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Oil in a good days work
The International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation (IFFO) has launched an informative video presenting the case for eating more oily fish. Entitled ‘Marine Omega-3 – The Healthiest Fats’ the film is a response to growing scientific and consumer interest in the subject and can be viewed at: http://www.iffo.net/default.asp?contentID=809.
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CIRCLE-2 "Climate Adaptation Research in a Larger Europe: an analysis at local and national scales"
The Executive summary of the first synthesis report entitled “Climate Adaptation Research in a Larger Europe: an analysis at local and national scales”, developed by CIRCLE-2 on the basis of the CIRCLE-2 Climate Adaptation INFOBASE (http://infobase.circle-era.eu/) is now available. Access the summary at http://www.circle-era.eu/np4/%7B$clientServletPath%7D/?newsId=492&fileName=CIRCLE_2_Executive_Summary_Climate_Adapt.pdf.
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COFASP project launched
“Strengthening cooperation in European research on sustainable exploitation of marine resources in the seafood chains – ERANET” (COFASP ERA-NET) is a new four-year project in the European Research Area and was officially launched on 13 December. The ERA-NET scheme, aimed at national and regional programme managers, will focus on the coordination and cooperation of national and regional research and training programmes. COFASP ERA-NET seeks to strengthen the implementation of specific segments of the overall Europe2020 Strategy, specifically bioeconomy. Read more at http://www.ices.dk/InSideOut/No6%202012/Insideout2012-No.6.7.pdf.
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iMarine Data e-Infrastructure
iMarine is an open and collaborative initiative that will establish a data infrastructure to support the Ecosystem Approach to fisheries management and conservation of marine living resources. iMarine empowers practitioners and policy makers from multiple scientific fields such as fisheries, biodiversity and ocean observation. The iMarine Gateway facilitates specialist communities that are geographically dispersed. The Gateway offers easy access to resources and applications that advance our knowledge of marine living resources and the aquatic ecosystem. Six iMarine Applications are currently available and can be accessed through the user-friendly iMarine Gateway at https://portal.i-marine.d4science.org/web/guest;jsessionid=0B79FC466B725BB7467B40A7A4A586D5.
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2013 World Seafood Congress - first call for papers
The 2013 World Seafood Congress (WSC) will be held in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, at the Delta St. John’s Hotel and Conference Centre, between the 28th September - 4th October 2013. The theme is "Creative Solutions for Global Challenges”. Details on abstract submission are found in the attached PDF document and on the conference website www.wsc2013.com.
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Still a few booths left at AQUACULTURE 2013 - Going Fast!
There are still a few booths left at AQUACULTURE 2013 in Nashville and they are going fast! With record attendance projected, you don't want to miss this opportunity to showcase your products and services to the global aquaculture industry! To reserve your booth(s), email John Cooksey at worldaqua@aol.com three locations from the attached floorplan (PDF) showing available booths and then fill out the contract online at:
https://www.was.org/WasExhibitors/ExhibitorLogin.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fWasExhibitors%2fUsers%2fExhibitorContract.aspx%3fConfCode%3dAQ2013&ConfCode=AQ2013.
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Quality Marine Data for Everyone
It can be frustrating and time consuming to process marine biological data, whether you are a marine biologist or not. So regardless of what the data is for (e.g. monitoring, planning, EIA or research), TREx can help. More information at http://www.thomsonecologysoftware.com/.
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ICES Inside Out Newsletter 2012 No.6
Developing a new fishery, The curious case of the European eel and more. The latest issue of ICES Inside Out is available at http://www.ices.dk/InSideOut/No6%202012/Insideout2012-No.6%20main.pdf.
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Maritime Affairs & Fisheries Newsletter
European Parliament Fisheries Committee supports CFP Reform, Interview with new Commission advisor Pierre-Yves Cousteau and more. Access the latest newsletter online at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/mare/newsletter-specific-archive-detail.cfm?refDate=2012121911&serviceId=114&page=1&fullDate=Wed%2019%20Dec%202012.
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Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific Newsletter
NACA is an intergovernmental organisation that promotes rural development through sustainable aquaculture. Their monthly newsletter contains a summary of the most recent aquaculture news, publications and projects from the region. Access the latest edition (December 2012) at http://ymlp.com/z0OzU2.
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Latest WorldFish Publication E-Alert
WorldFish, a member of the CGIAR Consortium, is an international, nonprofit research organization. WorldFish is committed to meeting two key development challenges: 1) improving the livelihoods of those who are especially poor and vulnerable in places where fisheries and aquaculture can make a difference and 2) achieving large scale, environmentally sustainable, increases in supply and access to fish at affordable prices for poor consumers in developing countries. Access the latest e-alert at http://www.worldfishcenter.org/sites/default/files/e-alert/201212.html#1.
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4. PiscesTT Jobs
Job vacancies, MSc & PhD vacancies and student placements on WWW.PISCESTTJOBS.COM
If you are interested in viewing or posting a job vacancy please go to http://www.piscesttjobs.com/ or contact aquatt@aquatt.ie Subscribe at http://www.piscesttjobs.com/feeds/ for live RSS updates of new job postings.
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5. Young Scientist Corner
International Summer School - Invitation
The Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (FFPW USB) would like to invite bachelor, master and Ph.D. students to an International Summer School which will be held in the Czech Republic, in July 2013. The Summer School lasts four weeks and includes many excursions and lectures, but mostly work on a small research project under the guidance of experienced researchers in very well-equipped faculty laboratories. The FFPW USB provides hotel accommodation and full board to all participants for free. In addition, each student gets some "pocket money". For more information download the flyer (PDF).
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EAS-SG - Call for National Coordinators
The European Aquaculture Society Student Group as a group of volunteers is always searching for new members who want to be part of their team. If you would like to be part of this network and contribute to their various activities, as well as taking action in your country, you are welcome to apply to become a National Coordinator. Find out more on their website at http://www.eassg.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83:national-coordinators&catid=41:people-places&Itemid=82.
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About AquaTT
 AquaTT devised "TRAINING NEWS" as a free monthly e-newsletter that serves as an important communication channel for education and training opportunities for the Aquaculture, Fisheries and related Maritime sectors in Europe. It provides information on education and training developments, upcoming events, collaboration opportunities, job vacancies and student activities. All Training News are archived at http://www.aquatt.ie/.
AquaTT welcomes any feedback regarding content, presentation and user-friendliness of the newsletter. Please forward this mail to any colleagues that may be interested. Please submit relevant information for dissemination to news@aquatt.ie.
DISCLAIMER:
AquaTT provides this newsletter as a free service to interested
parties. Most of the information is provided by AquaTT. Where it is not,
the source of the news is provided in the text of the news brief or
else AquaTT attributes the news to the coordinating body as the "Data
Source Provider". In no way does this newsletter, by promoting events
not coordinated by AquaTT, intend to wrongly or inappropriately claim
projects, news, etc. as its own nor is it responsible for incorrect
information provided from other sources. "Training News" is a
promotional tool and forum for both AquaTT and other organisations.
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