Portugal seems particularly well suited to host a significant growth in the aquaculture sector. In fact, as a country, we have been scientific knowledge exporters for this sector in the past decades, especially in the fields of nutrition and zootechnology. We possess the 3rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the EU (even if the Atlantic is quite merciless for aquaculture producers). And, while still looking at the sector with some unease, Portuguese people continue to rank among the world’s largest consumers, eating roughly 60 kg of seafood per capita annually. In the past decade we have observed a modest increase in aquaculture production, with reported production going from 9.5 in 2015 to approximately 17 thousand tonnes in 2020, mostly due to more accurate reporting methods, rather than actual growth. The sustainable development of aquaculture in Portugal needs to find solutions that, in an integrated way, overcome the main constraints that limit the national aquaculture sector, while supporting the development of a smart and ecological aquaculture, competitive at a global level and providing consumers in the EU with safe and high nutritional value products. Thus, the national strategic objective for the period 2021-2030 aims to increase and diversify the supply of national aquaculture products, based on principles of environmental sustainability, social cohesion, animal welfare, food quality and safety, in order to reach 25 thousand tonnes by 2030.
The hurdles to overcome
So why is Portuguese aquaculture production still well below forecasts? The issue is multifaceted with no “one answer”, and there seem to be countless bottlenecks. We could argue that, as I’ve hinted, the Atlantic is poorly suited for mainstream aquaculture methods. This could be overcome by investing in state-of-the-art technologies, relying on modern 4.0 production systems. But perhaps the investments necessary would quickly place producers at a competitive disadvantage when compared to other countries where such issues are not significant. And there’s the bureaucracy and the latency observed between the intent to develop and its concretization. Nonetheless, the sector has been growing, and is expected to continue to grow in the upcoming years, largely due to a greater awareness of the healthiness of aquaculture products, the consumer push for locally produced products, the need to improve the trade balance (in the EU over 70 percent of seafood consumed is imported) and the stagnation and overall unsustainability of the fisheries sector. This growth will be largely supported by EU’s Resilience and Recovery Plan, with several large investments already in the pipeline.
The solutions
How can we minimise the sector’s growth pains? At Egas Moniz School of Health and Science (EM) we believe a well-rounded education is the key to success, and the aquaculture field is no exception. Our passion is to be more than an educational institution, by putting knowledge and research at the service of the community, being actively dedicated to transforming health and science knowledge into real positive societal impact.
This is why we have just launched a new Masters in Sustainable Aquaculture, with two specialisations: Aquatic Production and Aquatic Veterinary Studies. While there are already several Aquaculture Masters Programs in Portugal and Europe, most of the new graduates are better suited to pursue a scientific career, and very few provide veterinary professionals with the tools to support animal welfare, food quality and safety in this sector, which is why EM’s objective is to train professionals capable of responding to the specific needs of the aquaculture industry, contributing both to an improvement in the sustainability of production and to Health, Safety and Welfare in Aquaculture. This will be achieved through a One Health multidisciplinary approach – for which EM is uniquely qualified, being first and foremost a Health School, with established undergraduate and graduate university courses on other fields of human and animal health.
EM’s innovative teaching methodologies are founded on a student-centred paradigm intrinsically linked with active learning, which makes a shift to learning by more than listening to lectures, with pedagogical practices specifically designed to support the development of students’ meta-cognition. Students are engaged in interactive problem-solving activities, being expected to actively participate in their own assessment as partners. Students have access to a wide range of state-of-the-art digital learning tools, with promotion of digital inclusion of students in in-person and distant teaching and learning being pursued by established methodologies. EM’s pedagogical model contributes to deep learning, enabling students to extend ideas, apply knowledge and skills in new contexts, and demonstrate a critical stance towards arguments and evidence. This pedagogical model also promotes research skills and competencies in a transdisciplinary environment, an essential feature for the next generation of aquaculturists. To assure the best fit to the industry’s needs, EM relies on its large network of partners, having established protocols with the main national aquaculture value chain players. Graduates will thus have high professional skills to plan, organize and manage aquaculture production and integrate into the industry. Registration is now open until August 31st, and all the details can be found at this link: https://www.egasmoniz.com.pt/mestrados/mestrado-aquacultura-sustentavel
