GAA aquaculture innovation award deadline extended

The competition recognises individuals and companies finding new solutions to the key challenges facing aquaculture.

University of Stirling postdoctoral researcher Simão Zacarias was the recipient of last year’s Innovation Award for his work on the shrimp-hatchery practice of unilateral eyestalk ablation (removal). His research debunked the notion that the practice results in higher egg production and showed that it actually escalates disease vulnerability.

Last year, GAA received a total of 30 applications from 17 countries - Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Tanzania and Thailand.

Audience vote

Three finalists will be selected by five judges. They will then be invited to present at a GOAL 2021 virtual event in the autumn. The winner will be selected by audience vote.

Examples of aquaculture innovations include technologies that mitigate the occurrence of animal diseases or parasites, or that reduce or eliminate the use of antibiotics to treat animals; technologies that improve production efficiencies at the hatchery or farm levels while mitigating environmental impact; advances in offshore or land-based recirculation technologies; novel feed ingredients; reductions in carbon footprint through improved energy efficiency or regeneration; and social programs designed to improve living and working conditions at the farm or processing levels.

An application form and details of how to enter the competition can be found here.