Leading scientific minds meet in Nelson this August to discuss the shift taking place in aquaculture – from sheltered waterways to open ocean farming.

New Zealand’s Cawthron Institute is hosting its inaugural Open Oceans aquaculture symposium, Unlocking the Potential of our Oceans. It will discuss the ways open ocean aquaculture developments in both shellfish and finfish farming could revolutionise the global aquaculture industry.

The country’s aquaculture industry is growing in response to globally increasing demand but is constrained by limited sheltered inshore farm space, says Cawthron Institute CEO Professor Charles Eason.

The new frontier is open ocean aquaculture, where large tracts of consented space are available but the farming process is challenging in exposed and dynamic waters. New engineering concepts and farming approaches are needed to realise this opportunity and provide confidence for industry investment.

“Cawthron Institute is advancing open ocean aquaculture technology through the development of new tools and methods to cost-effectively farm shellfish and finfish,”says Eason.

“This symposium will outline technological advancements from Cawthron scientists and global research leaders, as well as the social and economic impacts of open ocean aquaculture. There is a global demand for protein, and aquaculture is a good way to produce that protein, with potentially less impact than land-based farming.”

The symposium will bring to New Zealand Hans V. Bjelland, the director of Exposed Aquaculture at the centre for research-based innovation from Trondheim, Norway and Arndt Hildebrandt from the Ludwig-Franzius Institute for Hydraulic, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering in Hanover, Germany.

The symposium will be held from 5-7 August 2019 at the Rutherford Hotel in Nelson, New Zealand. For more information visit www.openoceans.nz