AquaTT Training News - October 2006

Author: AquaTT

Date: 27 Oct 2006

October 2006

A free e-mail news service provided by AquaTT on European Education & Training in Aquaculture.
Please submit any relevant information for dissemination in the newsletter to
news@aquatt.ie

About AquaTT

Contents

 

Education

New Masters Program: "Intelligent Coast, new tourist strategies, new territorial structures', Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain. 1st edition January 2007

The Master Program is part of the academic offer of Fundació Politécnica of Catalonia (FPC -UPC) and will start January 2007.

Aim of the Master Program is to provide a framework for theoretical and practical exchange aimed at articulating a transverse view of the phenomenon of tourism and its impact on the landscape through research on new models of intervention and guidance and the participation of the various disciplines and stakeholders involved. Another aim is to consolidate a national and international research network focused on the analysis and redefinition of certain paradigmatic tourism scenarios, such as specific case studies.

This one-year master's programme is divided into three quarters. In the first quarter, students learn about and analyse the coast and the phenomenon of tourism using advanced digital techniques like geographic information systems (GIS). The second quarter is a transdisciplinary exploration of various models of tourism, from their political and economic development to their city-planning and architectural characteristics. Students analyse not only Mediterranean models but also those of natural competitors in the Caribbean and the Asian Pacific. In the third quarter, students apply the knowledge they have acquired during the programme to a comprehensive project involving a real case study. Each quarter is divided into a theoretical/active segment and proactive practice segment. Class time is complemented by workshops, seminars, field trips and lectures open to the general public.

For more information on administrative aims please contact:
Joana Mireia Cervera Garcia
Plaça Eusebi Güell, 6
08034 Barcelona
Tel. 93 401 2512 Fax. 93 401 18 73
Joana.Cervera@fundacio.upc.edu

For further information visit: http://www.intelligentcoast.es

Source: AquaTT

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AQUALAB Student Conference 2006
New Marine Institute headquarters, Oranmore, Co. Galway, Ireland. 2-4th November 2006

The Aqualab Student Conference 2006 is fast approaching. The seventh and final AQUALABS Training event will be the biggest so far with 60 participants. The venue will be the impressive new Marine Institute headquarters, Oranmore, Co. Galway, Ireland, 2-4th November 2006. The event is funded by the European Union Marie Curie program and there are part-funded places for 60 young researchers to participate. The three day student event will provide an opportunity for young researchers to share experiences, explore new fields and learn new skills.

Top researchers require a range of competencies in addition to their research skills. This event is intended to cover 3 areas of relevance to young researchers in aquaculture:
1. Profiling current research and training
2. Highlighting horizontal issues for scientific research
3. Enhancing participants’ complementary skills, e.g. communication, proposal writing, networking

The conference will be made up of 2 days of innovative sessions and activities, such as an assessment of communication styles for presenting research and networking, identification of where research fits into the aquaculture sector & where aquaculture fits into society, and an overview of student mobility, technology transfer & grant-based studying. On the 3rd day there will be a field trip to local aquaculture facilities, research stations and a cultural venue.

For further information visit: www.aquatt.ie 

Source: AquaTT

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Collaboration

PROFIT POLICY. Debating and influencing fisheries & aquaculture policy
 
PROFET POLICY’, a new EU-funded project, is to organise 9 trans-national workshops, during the next 2 years, covering policy issues within the aquaculture and fisheries sector throughout Europe. This initiative will provide an important forum for the exchange of views between National and European policy makers and stakeholders. Through active participation, these events will provide the Commission with clear recommendations for actions providing scientific support to policy.
 
‘PROFET POLICY’ will start by sourcing and summarising the research results in fisheries and aquaculture from projects made under the 5th and 6th Framework Programmes, focusing on their relevance to policy – primarily the Common Fisheries Policy. These summaries will become available – as technical leaflets - for all stakeholders via the Profet Policy website (www.profetpolicy.info) that will be launched late in 2006. The website will also publish background documents on why the research was done and cover positions such as relevant policies, green papers, ‘hot’ issues etc. These documents will also be provided as special thematic compendia – at the workshops and on demand.
 
The technical leaflets will supplement the background for the 9 workshops that will be organised in different countries throughout Europe over the next two years. The workshops will be structured to present core policy issues, relevant to each sector, and provide time for debate and discussion on progress towards long-term sustainability. It is important to identify how research can respond to and improve its adaptability to issues affecting the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. It is anticipated that the workshops will not only provide the opportunity for interested stakeholders to become better informed on European policies that affect their sector, but will also result in the identification of the research needs to support policy definition within the sectors, acting as a support to the Common Fisheries Policy.
 
The Federation of European Aquaculture (FEAP) is coordinating the project and represents the professional sector of Aquaculture, while the European Association of Fish Producers Organisations (EAPO) will represent professional fisheries. The project also includes the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and European Aquaculture Society (EAS), with scientists specialised in aquaculture and fisheries. Project partner Eurofish provides access to stakeholders within the Baltic, Central and Eastern Europe while AquaTT will apply 13 years of training, networking and dissemination experience within the work of the project consortium.
 
‘PROFET POLICY’ combines the results and experience of two successful European projects – ‘PROFET’ (www.aquamedia.org/news/RTD/profet_en.asp ) and ‘AquaFlow’ (www.aquaflow.org ). Additionally, ‘IMPACT FISH’ (see www.easonline.org) looked at the impact of research in seafood research under the 4th and 5th Framework programmes. The success and experience of these efforts provides the backbone for the developments foreseen within ‘PROFET POLICY’.
 
For more information, Contact details:
FEAP Secretariat - Rue Nicolas Fossoul 54B, 4100 Boncelles, Belgium
Tel: +32 4 3382995
Email: secretariat@feap.info
 

 

AQUA-TNET core group meeting, Bergen, Norway, 17th – 19th September 2006

 

 

From the 17th till the 19th of September 2006, AQUA-TNET partners representing the work packages regarding ‘Masters and Masters of Science curriculum development’ and ‘Transparency in Teaching and Education’ held their first core group meeting in Bergen, Norway. A workshop titled: “Internationalising Aquaculture and Fisheries Degree Programs in Europe: Practical solutions to enhance collaborationâ€? was also carried out during this time.

 

AQUA-TNET is the Socrates educational thematic network, consisting of more than 100 partners representing universities, training organisations, associations and research performers working in the area of aquaculture, fisheries and aquatic resource management.

 

The meeting provided an opportunity for core group members to meet and to exchange ideas and experiences regarding the EU reforms in the European Area of Higher Education and European Research Area. The meeting was a big success, with more than 25 partners from across Europe travelling to Bergen to discuss how to educate the network, and position the network, in light of new policies from the European Commission.

 

Given the diversity of opinions in Europe today on the way educational programs are organised, both between disciplines and countries, representatives from each partner country elaborated on how policies are influencing the educational system in their country and how university studies are now being organised.

 

With the proceedings of this core group meeting now complete, AQUA-TNET is now preparing to launch a new website. Details of this launch will be forthcoming.

 

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of AquaTT to thank Karin Pittman, Jan Petter Myklebust and Jorunn Blindheim of the University of Bergen for their hospitality and assistance with the organisation of the event.

 

For more information: aquatnet@aquatt.ie or marieke@aquatt.ie 

 

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Carrying Capacity Conference, Westport, Ireland, 28th September 2006

More than 70 delegates travelled to Westport, Co. Mayo, to participate in the Carrying Capacity Conference on 28th September. Participants travelled from all parts of Ireland, the UK, Netherlands, Portugal and Norway, to listen to a host of international speakers who presented pertinent aspects of carrying capacity studies as applied to sea areas, with a particular focus on shellfish aquaculture and fisheries.

 

The conference was organised by Aqua TT on behalf of Clew Bay Marine Forum, South East Shellfish Co-op and La Tene Maps, who are the Irish representatives in the EU Cooperative Research Carrying Capacity Project, KEYZONES. The one-day conference was generously sponsored by Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Marine Institute.

 

The opening session was chaired by Mr. John Coleman, a director of Aqua TT and chief executive of La Tene Maps. He introduced the first speaker Mr. John Perry TD, opposition Fine Gael spokesperson on the marine. Mr. Perry made a brief policy speech and formally opened the conference.

 

The first presentation was given by Dr. Brendan O'Connor, a director of Aquafact International, who gave an important overview titled "What is Carrying Capacity?" which established a solid base for the remainder of the day’s discussions. This aimed to define, in straightforward terms, the elements involved in a carrying capacity study at its most basic level. This was followed by Mr. Ben Dallaghan of BIM who outlined the organisation’s plans for the future.

 

After the break, Mr. Declan Clark, of the Martin Ryan Institute, NUI Galway, chaired the second session which concentrated on individual components of a carrying capacity study, such as “Shellfish Modelling and Carrying Capacityâ€? presented by Phil Pascoe from Plymouth Marine Laboratory. This theme was continued by Aad Small, from RIVO in the Netherlands, with his talk on biological modelling. Ms. Ana Sequeira, from the Institute of Marine Research in Portugal, then detailed the role of GIS in carrying capacity studies which was quite important as the mechanism through which to demonstrate results. The session was completed by Mr. Marcel Cure who outlined the Marine Institute’s plan for carrying capacity studies and a presentation by MarCon, titled “Carrying Capacity Studies for Mussel and Scallops in Coastal Areasâ€?.

 

The afternoon session, chaired by Mr. Mark Norman of Taighde Mhara, was devoted to examples of carrying capacity projects SMILE, (Northern Ireland), KEYZONES (Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands) and ECASA (Europe-wide), represented by Mr. Matt Service of AFESD, Mr. Dennis Gowland of Research Relays, Mr. Anouk Blauw of Delft Hydraulics, and Mr. Thom Nickell of SAMS. The final speaker of the session was Mr. Niall O' Boyle from Clew Bay Marine Forum who shared the perspective of a small SME working on a carrying capacity project.

 

A lively question and answer session, chaired by Mr. Richie Flynn of IFA Aquaculture, was an appropriate end for a very productive day.

 

Speaking after the conference, organiser John Coleman said "I think that everyone was happy with the level and quality of the talks. I had asked the speakers to keep things appropriate for a diverse audience of stakeholders and government agency people.�

He continued, “The speakers were pleasantly surprised both at the turnout and also the genuine interest by the Irish attendees in the experiences from other areas. As most of the studies presented are at an intermediate stage and ongoing, there were calls for a follow-up conference to look at the results in about two years time. This is something that Aqua TT will actively consider."

Downloadable files of the conference proceedings are available from the events section of the Aqua TT website, www.aquatt.ie.

 

 

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Final workshop WAVE project, Lyon, France, 27-29th September 2006

The WAVE project is coming to the end of its 3 year funded period under the EC Leonardo Da Vinci programme. The aim of the WAVE project was to identify and recognise the skills and knowledge needed for work in the European Aquaculture sector (primary production only) using a competency based approach. WAVE has produced a Master List of competencies covering all the main European farmed species and production techniques along with a set of guidelines on how to use WAVE in a variety of ways from assessing training needs to carrying out job interviews. The Master list and WAVE guidelines will shortly be available in 10 EC languages as well as an online tool for customising the list to your farm or training course. More information on the WAVE project and to find out how you can get a copy of the guidelines visit the WAVE project website, www.waveproject.com

 

As a final consultation with stakeholders, AquaTT and partners of the WAVE project representing FEAP and INTECHMER attended the recently held inter-professional meeting ‘Aujourd’hui l’aquaculture et la pêche professionnelle’, Lyon, France. The conference/trade show was attended by professional aquaculture producers, professional fishermen, feed producers, commercial organisations (equipment, suppliers), information, education and service organisations, environmental and animal health organisations.

The WAVE project had a stand to communicate and diffuse information about the WAVE program and promote the activities of the respective organisations present.

In addition the project held a small workshop presenting the WAVE program which was attended by about 30 people. There was a lengthy discussion with participants and the feedback was very positive.

 

More information on the WAVE project can be found at www.waveproject.com

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PESCALEX Start-up Meeting

The first PESCALEX meeting took place in Dublin on 16-17th November, and was attended by Mrs M.Eleftheriou (AMC), Dr P Christofilogiannis (AQUARK), Ms L Fraga (CETMAR), Mme C. Desmarais, Mme C. Goulletquert (LYCEE), Ms. E.McVeigh (AquaTT), Dr W. O'Connell (Bergen), and Professor R.Trebaziatowski (SZCZECIN)

Startup meetings of pilot projects are particularly important, even when partners know one another, and have previously worked together. The nature of the pilot project implies innovation, and aspects of innovative processes sometime require a lot of spelling out. In PESCALEX, it is the CLIL methodology (Content and Language Integrated Learning) that is not familiar to the content specialists in the partnerships. The meeting therefore began with a presentation on the PESCALEX Concept, demonstrating the relevance of the PESCALEX language project to the aquaculture curriculum.

The CLIL methodology is well suited to the narrowly- focused subject area of Fish Diseases, with its simple language structures, the high level of knowledge of complex terminology, and the need for fast recognition of disease symptoms. There is a good chance of success in this project, because it is based on Beginner and Basic Level online Language lessons which have already been tried and tested in English, Greek, Portuguese and Swedish. It will be our task to adapt and translate them into French, Spanish, Norwegian and Polish.

The Fish Diseases Glossary will also form a major part of PESCALEX, with the terms and definitions being taken from the AQUALEX database. The first draft is already available, totalling 1472 items, which we hope to finalise by the end of the year so that translation into Polish can begin as soon as possible.
The new module concerns Fish Diseases, and at the Startup meeting it was decided that the partner responsible  Dr Christofilogiannis (AQUARK) should focus on 6 main species relevant to European industry. We are to decide on these species later. We had been sent the courses "Basic Techniques in Fish Haematology", "Fish Health Management" and "Cost Effective Feeding of Fish". The latter, even though it is the longest module, should have new material on turbot which BERGEN will produce.

We spent a long time discussing how to plan the final Teacher Training Workshop (target audience, venue, timing, suitability of methodology for teacher training). Venue: Lycee de la Mer et du Littoral, in Bourcefranc le Chapus in France, despite its rather remote location. Time for the workshop-June 2007. It was decided to delay the choice of target audience, as CLIL method is still very innovative, and much may depend on the willingness of teachers and/or students to act as guinea pigs in this pilot project.

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Announcements

FISHPROM EXPO 2006
October 31st – November 3rd 2006, Moscow, Russia

FISHPROM-EXPO 2006 represents the uniform branch exhibition project, that covers all spectrum of questions the Fish industry and organized on the basis of the fishing exhibitions spent earlier on the territory of the All-Russian Exhibition Center.

Within the framework of the Exhibition FISHPROM-EXPO 2006 there will be held the practical scientific conference and contests upon the following nominations: The best samples of fish and seafood production; Innovations in fish industry; The best technologist of industry; The best collective organizer, The Best stand of an exposition and others.

For more information, see website:
http://www.vnierkh.ru/expo/vist-engl_06.htm
 

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International Conference: The EU Green Paper on a Future European Maritime Policy - The Objectives, Potential Implications and Challenges
November 8th 2006, Galway, Ireland
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