Dr. Carlos M. Duarte

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Regenerative Aquaculture to Reconcile Human and Planetary Health

Failure to achieve sustainable development goals will burden society for generations, as human health is compromised from increased prevalent of hunger, pollution and climate change impacts, while we continue to lose biodiversity on land and oceans. In this lecture I argue that regenerative aquaculture, defined as an aquaculture practice that increases economic, social, cultural and natural capital is an essential underpinning to fast track our progress toward the goals. I will elaborate on how the aquaculture practice be regenerative and the benefits from a transition of the industry to a renewable paradigm for planetary and human health. I will then describe the roadblocks, including scientific, governance, and market challenges that need be overcome to achieve this necessary transition to complete the landmark revolution introduced in human history by the advent of industrial revolution.

Ibn Sina Distinguished Professor Carlos M. Duarte (Lisbon, 1960) is the Tarek Ahmed Juffali Research Chair in Red Sea Ecology at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), in Saudi Arabia, and Executive Director of the Global Coral R&D Accelerator Platform (CORDAP.org) and CEO of the CORDAP Foundation. Before this he was Research Professor with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Director of the Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia. He also holds an honorary professor position at the Arctic Research Center in Aarhus University, Denmark.

Dr. Elisabetta Giuffra

INRAE

Leveraging the value of functional genome annotations and refined phenotypes.”

Since its launch in 2015, the functional annotation of genomes has added value and utility to the genome sequences of both terrestrial and aquatic domesticated animal species. GENE-SWitCH and the other H2020 EuroFAANG projects have contributed to this effort, exploiting the new genomic knowledge for genotype-to-phenotype research and applications and consolidating emerging research priorities and needs. A new European initiative will be presented that will support fundamental and applied research across domains in animal farming.

Elisabetta Giuffra, biologist, PhD, holds a research director position at the GABI Unit of Paris-Saclay University, INRAE, AgroParisTech in Jouy-en-Josas (France). In recent years she has been working in the field of host (pig)-virus interactions by transcriptional genomics approaches and in the context of the functional annotation of farm species genomes for genotype-to-phenotype research. She is co-leader of the international Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG) initiative and has coordinated the H2020 FAANG project GENE-SWitCH (2019-2023). She is currently developing studies of genotype-phenotype relationships in pig-virus interactions in vitro using organoids and leads a work package (Development of a framework for biobanking and use of in vitro cellular models) of the EuroFAANG research infrastructure project (2023-2025).

Joan Riera

Kantar Worldpanel

What's happening with seafood consumption ?

The latest Eurobarometer report from the European Commission reveals a decline in seafood consumption across the European Union (EU). Only 29% of Europeans consume fishery and aquaculture products at least once a week at home, a figure that has dropped compared to previous years. However, Spain remains an exception to this trend, leading the EU in seafood consumption.

So what is happening? Is price the only driver? Is this a growing concern for us all?

Joan Riera will take us through the recent consumption data from Spain and compare this with several other EU countries. He will give us his insights into Spanish consumer trends and patterns for the main seafood products coming from both fisheries and aquaculture.

During these years, Joan and his team have advised local and global food clients, working closely with marketing and sales departments to uncover actionable recommendations for growing their businesses. Joan is currently the Director of Client Service at the Barcelona office.