Aquaculture will be the fastest growing food producer

Expert professor judges aquaculture the winning food producer, and a new net cleaning device wins the AquaVision Innovation Award on the last day of the AquaVision conference in Stavanger, Norway, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Skretting.

"The potential for increased production seems larger for aquaculture than other food producing technologies," concluded Professor Frank Asche at the University of Stavanger, final speaker at the AquaVision conference on Wednesday.

Professor Asche reached his conclusion by drawing together results from world-wide market research.

Aquaculture is inherently sustainable
The Norwegian Professor was co-author of an article on sustainability and global seafood in Science earlier this year. He expects aquaculture to have a long term growth that will make it the dominant seafood supplier within a decade or two - without damaging the eco systems in which it operates.

"There is nothing inherently unsustainable with aquaculture as long as the producers choose to operate on a sustainable basis," said Professor Asche.

AquaVision Innovation Award to New Net Cleaner
On the last conference day a revolutionary new method for cleaning the nets of the fish farm pens brought Marine Inspector and Cleaner of Australia the AquaVision Innovation Award.

Marine Inspector and Cleaner's totally new cleaning device for nets, easily operated by one man, is a longed for invention for fish farmers. Clean nets contribute to better health, fewer parasites and better fish growth.

Due to the speed and ease of operation, nets can be cleaned on a regular basis, resulting in minimal fouling growth, said Dr. Robert Kirschbaum of DSM, which set up the prize.

Delegates from 26 countries
The winning growth potential presented by Professor Asche and the will to innovate as demonstrated by the Marine Inspector and Cleaner were a fitting conclusion to the eighth AquaVision conference, which had the theme Open your eyes - Oceans of opportunities.

AquaVision has established itself as a major venue, regularly assembling top executives from aquaculture and its stakeholders. 340 delegates from 26 countries attended the 2010 conference.

"Aquaculture is a winning industry," stated Knut Nesse, Executive Vice-President Nutreco Aquaculture/Skretting Group in his closing remarks. "There is no doubt about that. Aquaculture is the blue revolution. We are able to supply a growing population with healthy food, but," he added, "our industry is also fantastic if you look at value created." He concluded by inviting the delegates back for AquaVision 2012.