Seafish sets sights on aquaculture

The idea has evolved from the English Aquaculture Working Group, which now includes stakeholders from across the UK and has been renamed the Seafish Domestic Aquaculture Advisory Committee (SDAAC).

To further equip this continually developing UK food sector, Seafish is updating its aquaculture web pages and a suite of new resources has recently been announced.

• The Seafish Guide to Aquaculture has been updated.
• A summary report of aquaculture within the recently released FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture has been created.
• A comprehensive Who's Who in UK Aquaculture is also now available.

Seafish Aquaculture has also reached out to education institutions across the UK, to highlight that sea safety and survival courses are available through the Seafish Safety and Training department. For new entrants into the aquaculture sector, these safety courses are essential.

Not only is Seafish engaging with exciting external aquaculture initiatives, it is supporting two aquaculture-focused projects through the Strategic Investment Fund (SIF), and has commissioned two new reports pertinent to the UK aquaculture sector.

The results of the SIF projects are expected later in the year, while the reports will be published imminently.

• The first, "Aquaculture in England, Wales and Northern Ireland", focuses on analysing the economic contribution and value of the major sub-sectors and most important farmed species across the three nations.
• The second report focuses on UK shellfish production in relation to use of Several and Regulating Orders.

Finally, Seafish continues to make progress towards adding aquaculture profiles to its Risk Assessment for Sourcing Seafood (RASS) web tool, aiming to upload farmed seafood profiles early next year.