Aquaculture in the Ecosystem

It is expected a continued growth in aquaculture, both nationally and internationally. The importance of aquaculture for the production of food is likely to increase, and it will result in increasing focus on the environmental interactions of aquaculture. In Norway and Europe, most of the growth will happen in sea-based systems, and the aquaculture production must therefore be organised within the marine ecosystem without negative environmental effects. This course will provide a research-based understanding of developments in sea-based aquaculture, with a focus on environmental, technological and biological challenges that need to be resolved to ensure a sustainable development of the aquaculture sector. The course will treat the challenges of the growth of the aquaculture sector, general marine ecology, water transport models, waste from fish farming, genetic interactions, parasite dynamics linked to fish farming, spread of diseases, introduction of alien species, artificial reef issues, coastal zone planning and new sustainable feed raw materials. The main focus of the course will be on the sea-based aquaculture and environmental aspects related to it. However, new solutions as integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA), and the importance of ecological understanding of the aquaculture will be covered. Digitalization and automation that will get increased importance in the future will be addressed. Sustainability aspects and how seabased aquaculture can fulfil the UN Developmental goals will be treated as well.

Knowledge:

• Candidates will understand ecological interactions between marine aquaculture and the marine environment, including aquaculture installations, operation of seabased farms, possible genetic interactions of fish farming, spread of parasites and the use of feed resources.
• Candidates will gain an understanding of the principles for future sustainable aquaculture production and which bottlenecks that is critical for such development.
• He/she can understand the importance of digitalization and automation.
• The candidate shall understand how the aquaculture sector can fulfil specific UN DG to ensure future sustainable development of both Norwegian and global aquaculture production.

Skills:

• Candidates should be able to describe principles for evaluating interactions between environment and aquaculture, and understanding future trends in aquaculture.

General competence:

• Candidates will get good knowledge of sustainalbe developement of aquaculture with comprehensive solutions for planning and operating sea-based aquaculture facilities.
• He / she must understand the dynamics of the marine ecosystem and learning forms and activities, and understand how aquaculture can fullfil UN SD goals, both for norwegian and global aquaculture sector.

Lectures: 30 hours

Group work with presentation and discussions in plenum

Excursions and company presentations to seabased aquaculture stakeholders: In total up to 3 days

Group work on specific topics with presentation to other students: 10 days work with the presentation to the students ( Compulsory assignments)

Group work and presentation need to be approved before exam