The Institute of Fisheries Management offers free membership for the first year to fisheries students looking to expand their network. Visit us on Stand 10 in the exhibition hall to sign up.
]]>The Duke of Rothesay was speaking at the World Fisheries Congress in his role as the founder of The Prince’s International Sustainability Unit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17989817
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The University of Stirling, which has pioneered the development of rapid blood analysis for Omega 3 testing in the UK, will be offering free Omega 3 testing to visitors to their stand at the World Fisheries Congress in Edinburgh from 8 to 11 May.
Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture is the largest aquaculture research centre in the UK and one of the oldest in the world. The Institute researches and develops aquaculture activity throughout the world but also looks at the benefits to humans of eating the fish produced.
Professor Gordon Bell of the Institute says: “Fish are a complete nutrient package: we grow fish and it’s important to demonstrate the positive impact on human health of eating fish.
“Omega 3 has widely acknowledged benefits for people with cardiovascular disease and diseases with an inflammatory origin i.e. rheumatoid arthritis. We are also exploring whether Omega 3 can help those with autism and ADHD.
“The highest levels of Omega 3 are in fish. Most people have about 25% Omega 3 in their blood but 40% is the ideal level. Prior to 2006, there was nowhere in the UK to carry out rapid spot testing of blood samples for Omega 3 – all blood for testing was taken directly from the vein in a procedure which had to be carried out by medical practitioners.
“With financial help from Glasgow Health Solutions – a clinic, laboratory and supplement company – the Institute developed the rapid blood analysis system in Stirling and now receives spot blood samples for testing from the UK and the USA.”
The Institute’s James Dick, who developed the technology, says: “The advantage of the blood spot method, compared with collecting venous blood from a vein, is its non-invasive nature. The speed and simplicity of collection is important when vulnerable patients are being studied, in particular young children, patients with neurological problems and the elderly.”
Rapid spot testing of blood samples for Omega 3 normally costs £50, but Stirling’s institute will offer a limited number of free Omega 3 spot tests at Stand 7 of the World Fisheries Congress at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. A special conference rate for additional Omega Blood Count tests of £30 will be available.
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For further information, contact Patricia Hess at mediarelations@stir.ac.uk or on 01786 466 687
Notes to editors
More information and a video of rapid spot testing analysis can be found at http://www.aqua.stir.ac.uk/nas/blood-spot-test
Information about the Institute of Aquaculture can be found at www.stir.ac.uk/ioa
]]>Competition for fish in the sea has grown much more intense in the past 50 years. Not so much because there are more mouths to feed as because of technology: the power of fishermen to catch fish in greater numbers and in deeper water has grown by leaps and bounds. Fish can’t keep up. The stocks of fish that we have drawn on for centuries are now running desperately short.
Attempts to manage fish stocks by limiting fishing effort and catches have acquired more importance, often in ways that fishermen experience as damaging. The British fixation with cod took a hit when the Icelanders shut our trawlers out from the 1960s onwards, to protect their own livelihoods. Our fishermen fell back increasingly on the North Sea. Fish stocks there came under new pressure with the creation of Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in the 1970s. Herring stocks collapsed; cod and haddock became scarcer; and our fishermen gradually moved on to other areas and other species – abusing the CFP roundly as they went.
Our British preference for cod or haddock and chips, even if no longer wrapped in newspaper, dies hard. When our tastes have shifted, it has sometimes had the effect of moving the problem of over-fishing from one species to another. Not much help to the fish if we all demand monkfish one year, sea bass the next. We recreate scarcity in quick time; scarcity sends prices up; fish moves from being good cheap protein for everyone to being good, but pricy, protein for the better-off. To ease the situation, our celebrity chefs are valiantly trying now to persuade us that many other types of fish taste good too, and need no elaborate preparation.
But where is all this leading us? Are we not just moving the problem around? Are we, to take up the message in its starkest form, ‘at the end of the line’? History is certainly trying to get through to us that stocks of fish in the sea are not inexhaustible. Can we find ways of not driving fish to extinction? Can we adopt the approach of the rational optimist, and use human ingenuity to make fishing sustainable? Or does human ingenuity, when it comes to sea fisheries, fall foul of human greed?
The pressures on sea fish stocks around the UK are just part of a much wider picture. Similar problems are faced in many parts of the world. The solutions will vary with types of fishery and systems of management. The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit has launched a consultation with the aim of building consensus on transition to more sustainable, resilient fisheries. Discussion at St George’s House can, we hope, contribute to this by putting the situation in European waters under closer scrutiny and calling on all interested parties to see how they can work together for mutual benefit.
The Consultation concentrated on the systems of management that come with the Common Fisheries Policy, and on issues currently at the forefront of discussion in Britain in relation to the management of fish stocks and the shaping of consumers’ tastes, homing in on achievable ideas for bringing about a sustainable balance between demand and supply.
St George’s House brought together leading representatives of the fishing industry; of supermarkets; senior officials with responsibility for shaping policies for the industry in the EU and in government in this country; people concerned with consumers’ behaviour and how best to influence it; experts on wider environmental impacts; and people who are concerned with the problem of over-fishing from universities or from independent positions.
This Consultation was led by Richard Carden, one of our House Fellows.
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The Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) will launch its latest report card at a special lunchtime event on 8th May 2012
MCCIP would like to invite you to attend this launch event in The Moorfoot Room, 8th May, 12.50pm to find out how climate change could affect fish, fisheries and aquaculture in UK and Irish waters and beyond…
The UK minister for the Marine Environment, Richard Benyon and Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment in the Scottish Government will address the launch
Admittance to this launch event will be on a strictly first come, first served basis so please arrive promptly in order to avoid disappointment
Complimentary refreshments will be provided.
]]>DAY 4 Thursday May 10th
Morning session: 09:00 – 12:30. Location: Carrick room 3
Title
Assessment of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions in aquatic food products – Expert review and public comment on application of BSI PAS2050 to the seafood industry.
Description
In 2008, the worlds first standardised methodology for assessing GHG emissions in goods and services was launched in the UK by British Standards Institute (BSI PAS2050:2008). This standard is a voluntary, publicly available specification that is nationally and internationally applicable for assessing GHG emissions in goods and services. The standard has been well received leading to more than 35,000 downloads across 90+ countries.
Despite PAS 2050 there remain inconsistent assessments and interpretation gaps concerning GHG emissions in seafood. The 2011 revision of PAS 2050 introduced the concept and the possibility for product/sector specific ‘supplementary requirements’. This provides the opportunity to tailor existing BSI PAS2050 requirements and guidelines to the needs of the seafood industry through the development of specific supplementary requirements.
The Seafish sponsored development of PAS2050-2 supplementary requirements “Assessment of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions in aquatic food products” has attracted international interest from across the supply chain. The development of PAS2050-2 has the following objectives:
The drafting of these supplementary requirements is led by a steering group with the support of a wider review panel involving nearly 40 stakeholders.
This session will include:
The room size places an upper limit on the numbers that can attend this session, those wishing to participate should in the first instance contact the Project Manager brian.such@bsigroup.com by Wednesday 9th May.
DAY 5 Friday May 11th 2012
Afternoon session: 14:30 – 16:00. Location: Ochil room
Title
Parallel session 5 – Extending the dialogue on energy and GHG emissions in seafood systems: practical next step actions
Description
There is a growing body of scientific and practical work concerning energy, GHG emissions and wider life-cycle analysis in seafood systems. This session provides an opportunity to extend the public dialogue on this work and widening the community of interested stakeholders. Specifically, the session seeks to:
Discuss emerging opportunities in understanding, quantifying, communicating, and acting upon energy use in capture fisheries and aquaculture.
This session builds upon session C9 “Beyond just fish: energy and the related environmental performance of capture fisheries and aquaculture”. The session welcomes seasoned scientists and practitioners as well as those new to this dimension in seafood.
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We look forward to welcoming Lowri toEdinburgh in the coming weeks.
]]>Economist articles at:
http://www.economist.com/node/21548240?fsrc=scn/tw/te/ar/howtostopfishermenfishing
http://www.economist.com/node/21548212
Guardian article at:
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/24/world-bank-coalition-marine-protection?newsfeed=true_