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AquaVision speaker coauthors Science paper |
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Thursday, 25 March 2010 00:00 |
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The AquaVision conference in Norway will feature Professor Frank Asche as one of the speakers. A researcher and lecturer at the University of Stavanger Professor Asche shares an academic interest in the forces that drive the growth of the aquaculture industry.
He warns against salmon prices that are too high as they can hamper the growth of the industry. Underinvestment in new farms might result in an industry that cannot meet demand and therefore to even higher prices. “While this is good for the farmers in the short term, it is also a driver for new species that might attract consumers and move them away from salmon,” Asche says. He explains some of the differences between the salmon industry which is the big European aquaculture success story and the seabream industry which comes a distant second. For aquaculture to succeed all the drivers need to be in place at the right time he says, technology, costs, governance and marketing. “The sea bream industry equals salmon both in technology and costs, but its marketing has not been sufficient and product innovation is virtually non-existent – bream is still primarily sold as a portion fish. That is the main reason why bream production is still small and salmon is the big brother.” Professor Asche recently coauthored a paper Sustainability and Global Seafood that was published in the February edition of Science. Sustainable growth is also one of the themes at the conference. This year the AquaVision conference is expected to attract 500 participants from 35 countries who will meet to listen to and discuss current and future issues of concern along the length of the value chain. The conference will be held from 7-9 June in Stavanger. More information is available from www.aquavision.org
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