Platform for Fish Farming Technology Development in Hungary Platform for Fish Farming
Technology Development in Hungary

Meeting of the European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATIP)

In February 3, 2009. the meeting of the European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATIP) was organized in Gent, Belgium where Dr. Béla Urbányi vocational manager and Magdolna Trenovszki from Szent István University together with Dr. László Váradi, the general director of HAKI (Research Institute for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Irrigation) represented the Hungarian Platform. A main aim of the participation was to indicate the intention of the Platform for Fish Farming Technology Development in Hungary to assist in the work of EATIP and with an active contribution stand for fish producers and fish breeders of Hungary and Central-Eastern Europe. About one hundred participants were present in the meeting from different fields of European aquaculture. 60 % of these participants were establishments, organizations and representatives of national platforms (eg.: Viking Fish Farms Ltd., Skretting, Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation) while 40 % was built up of the heads of research and educational institutions (eg.: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Ghent University, Norwegian University of Science and Technology). The following countries were represented in the meeting: Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, the United States, Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland, Israel and Hungary. EATIP is one of the 36 European Technology Platforms unique in a way that it was established without any external support and is operating as a separate legal entity (a non-profit organization registered in Belgium). Thus the organization is basically composed of card-carrying participants.

- Thematic Areas and the Board of Directors

The activity of Thematic Areas is coordinated by Torgeir Edvardsen (SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, International Projects and Consulting munkatársa, Norvegia), a comittee member of EATIP. Thematic Areas was formed in 2007 on the basis of the following fields:

  1. Product quality and human safety and health
  2. Technology and systems
  3. Managing the biological lifecycle
  4. Sustainable feed production
  5. Integration with the environment
  6. Knowledge management
  7. Aquatic animal health and welfare

The aim of the meeting was for certain Thematic Areas (TA) to report about their proposed intentions and introduce their former activities. Leaders of TA work groups introduced the status of the work which contributed to a possible future and the development of a long-term research program for European aquaculture in accordance with the EATIP program. On the basis of these reports it could be seen that certain TA were already working according to well developed plans and created a long-term research strategy for themselves (eg.: TA 1, TA 3, TA 6) but there were also some TA where the work had just began (TA 2, TA 7).


As a conclusion it can be said that we could be part of an initiation where we should take every opportunity to enforce/prove our interests. Nevertheless, we have to realize that European aquaculture organizations and their representatives easily forget about member countries being engaged in carp-centered fish production. They are marginally featured in developmental programs though they are a major potential in freshwater fish production of Europe. However, if we don’t participate in such programs and do not ‘remind’ decision-makers permanently about our existence and activity then we would really be moved to the periphery. Our National Platform registrated and respected provides a good opportunity to represent the interests of Hungarian fish production.

Készült az NKTH támogatásával.