Second Interim Report of the Working Group on Aquaculture (WGAQUA). 31 March - 4 April 2014, Vigo, Spain

The WGAQUA held its second meeting from 31 March to 4 April 2014 in Vigo, Spain. It was hosted by Pepe Iglesias of the Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia, Centro Oceanografico de Vigo and was attended by 27 participants from 10 ICES countries (Annex 1). Progress on the ToRs, outreach/PR activities, cooperation with other WG and with advisory structures as well as science highlights are reported. WGAQUA received an advice request from OSPAR (4/2014) on “Interactions be-tween wild and captive fish stocks”. WGAQUA contributed information on the pres-sures to wild fish from several mariculture activities (introduction of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals; parasite interactions; non-genetic interactions from mass re-leases of cultured organisms including fish escapes and bivalve transfers/spawning; release of nutrients and organic matter; addition of structure/habitat by bivalve cul-ture, and utilization of trophic resources by mariculture). A detailed report was pre-pared for ACOM that included an update on the available knowledge on these aquaculture pressures and some examples of management solutions to mitigate these pressures on the marine environment. Aquaculture activities in the ICES and OSPAR regions are highly diverse and impacts on wild fish may be expected to be highly site-specific. Consequently, it was not possible for WGAQUA to reach generic con-clusions on aquaculture interactions with wild fish, or to identify and prioritize major mariculture pressures that are applicable across the full ICES or OSPAR regions. WGAQUA has accepted the invitation to participate in the work and deliberation of ISO TC 234 as a liaison organization (Level B). The draft standards on sea lice moni-toring (document ISO/DIS 16541) were reviewed by WGAQUA and comments were relayed to ISO. All twelve ToRs were discussed at the beginning of the meeting and it was decided to not to work on ToR a) and ToR b) this year, but finalise those in the last year. For ToRs d)-l) ToR leaders prepared an outline of publication intersessionally and presented that at meeting. Several ToRs showed considerable overlap. Based on attandance and expertise subgroups were formed to work on overlapping ToRs. ToR d – l were grouped according to overlap and three sub-groups were formed to work on them. The chosen structure fits well with the themes determined during the first WGAQUA meeting in 2013: Benthic Effects Theme, Pest Management Theme and Ecosystem Interactions Theme. Work will continue intersessionally. Emerging aquaculture issues (ToR c) were highlighted. It was observed that the pre-sent expertise of WGAQUA does not cover all topics that were identified. It should be noted that WGAQUA covers a wide range of subjects. Compared to EGs dealing with fish issues there is much less specialisation. Aquaculture production takes up 40% of the global seafood production. However, this is not reflected in the number EGs working on aquaculture topics.
How to cite
ICES (2014). Second Interim Report of the Working Group on Aquaculture (WGAQUA). 31 March - 4 April 2014, Vigo, Spain. Ref. ICES CM 2014/SSGHIE:04. ICES. https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00240/35115/

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