10.30 - 10.40

Chair's welcome

Dawood Al-Yahyai, Aquaculture Expert, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Oman

10.40 - 11.20

Keynote: The future of aquaculture: nourishing the world in 2050

• The current scenario we face in Aquaculture, both globally and in the MEA region
• Forecasts and models indicating the quantities of fish that will be required in 2030 and 2050
• Opportunities for bridging the global fish supply-demand gap through inclusive aquaculture growth

Dr. Rohana Subasinghe, President, Asia-Pacific Chapter, World Aquaculture Society

11.20 - 11.40

Break

11.40 - 12.00

Oman’s aquaculture programme: the current situation and future vision

• The current situation in Oman’s Aquaculture industry: the rules, regulations, private investment and funding support from the Ministry
• What has already been achieved in Oman’s Aquaculture industry?
• Oman’s Aquaculture Vision 2040 and what it will mean for the industry

Dawood Al-Yahyai, Aquaculture Expert, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Oman

12.00 - 13.00

Panel: Planning for 2050: aquaculture’s role in providing regional food security, quality and safety

• The benefits and risks of new strategies for maintaining fish health: fishmeal replacement, vaccines, medicated feed additives and microbiome technologies
• The impact of tightening environmental regulations on the global aquaculture industry
• What changes do we need to make as an industry and what are the time frames we need to aim for?
• Sustaining a profitable aquaculture business in the face of technical, environmental and economic challenges

Panellists include:

• Dawood Al-Yahyai, Aquaculture, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Oman
• Dr. Rohana Subasinghe, President, Asia-Pacific Chapter, World Aquaculture Society

13.00 -14.00

Break

14.00 - 14.20

Leveraging a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) for commercial food security in hostile environments

• RAS in hostile environments: how it works and the impact on reliability of supply
• Practical considerations for the establishment of an RAS facility: location selection, infrastructure requirements and species selection
• Operating an RAS facility: the necessary skills, best practice and the provision of remote management and supervision
• Output improvement strategies including regular harvests and improving broodstock and taste
• Commercial considerations such as scale, hybrid solutions and risks 

Kim David Lid, Director, Sterner AS

14.20 -14.40

National and enterprise level biosecurity, from reaction to proactive management: the case of Saudi Arabia

• NAQUA’s and KSA biosecurity strategy and how it has developed over time
• Genetic and epigenetic approaches to shrimp breeding for disease control

Dr. Victoria Alday-Sanz, Director of Biosecurity and Breeding Programmes, National Aquaculture Group (NAQUA)

14.40 - 15.10

Break

15.10 - 15.30

Advances in applied genetics in marine shrimp and implications for sustainable production

Dr. Morten Rye, Director of Genetics, Benchmark Genetics

15.30 - 15.50

New lighting technologies for improving the productivity of aquaculture farms

• Our research into the effects of artificial lighting on the growth rates of fish
• Some examples of the results of studies on salmon, tilapia and sea bream
• How the technology works and applications in the Aquaculture industry

Olav Scholte, Strategic Alliances and Public and Government Affairs, Signify Middle East

15.50 - 16.30

Panel: Using new technology to increase the fish supply in the Middle East and Africa

• Employing digital technologies to prevent disease in fish farms
• Which technologies are the most promising for improving productivity?
• New technology developments on the horizon that will impact the Aquaculture industry’s future success

Panellists include: 

• Francisco Murillo, VP Business Development, Innovasea 
• Michele Gallo, Aquaculture and RAS Engineer, AquaBioTech Group
• Olav Scholte, Strategic Alliances and Public & Government Affairs, Signify Middle East

16.30

Close of Aquaculture Conference

10.30 - 10.40

Chair's Welcome

Dr. Mohamed Elfatih Hamad, Associate Professor, Chair, Veterinary Medicine Department, UAEU 

10.40 - 11.10

Keynote: Biosecurity in UAE farms: an update on best practices

Dr. Roula Hassan Shaaban, Chairperson of Board of Directors, Emirates Veterinary Association 

11.10 - 11.30

The complementary role of exogenous nutritional emulsifiers to exogenous enzymes in a broiler diet: in vitro and in vivo evidence

• Aim: quantification (in vitro and in vivo) of the supplementary effect of a nutritional emulsifier supplemented in a wheat-corn-soy bean meal-based reference diet, containing exogenous enzymes (phytase and xylanase)
• Broiler’s digestive physiology of fat digestion was mimicked by the dynamic in vitro Calimero-model, while extrapolation to ‘the field’ was done in a classical in vivo feeding trial
• The Calimero-model provides fatty acid (FA)-specific cumulative absorption profiles and FA-specific effects of a  nutritional emulsifier, while the in vivo trial gives us an impression of the effect ‘in practice’ of this additive
• Conclusions and practical implications of this type of additives will be quantified in the context of more sustainable feeding of broilers

Dr. Steven Cools, Product Manager and Veterinarian, Nukamel

11.30 - 12.00

Break

12.00 - 12.40

The present situation of MERS-CoV in the Middle East

• MERS suddenly appeared in 2012 on the Arabian Peninsula and so far more than 2200 laboratory confirmed human cases have been reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 35%.
• MERS is caused by a coronavirus named MERS-CoV and belongs to lineage C of the RNA Beta coronavirus
• MERS-CoV has circulated in dromedaries for decades, but only recently spilled over into humans in 2012, for unknown reasons
• Transmission from dromedaries to humans is rare, and is thought only to occur through very close contact
• Human-human transmission can occur, but better understanding of the disease and improved infection control procedures have reduced infection rates in hospitals
• No vaccine for camels is currently available

Priv. Doz. Dr. Habil. U. Wernery, Scientific Director, CVRL

12.40

Break

14.10 - 14.20

Chair’s welcome

Dr. Elke Neumann, Associate Professor, Integrative Agriculture, UAEA

14.20 - 14.45

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) project results from Ecuador and Botswana

• A general description of CSA
• The adaptation of traditional cocoa farming in Ecuador: methods, challenges and initial results
• Botswana project: initial results in the improvement of agricultural productivity and climate mitigation
• Monitoring and evaluation tools developed by FAO for CSA projects

Federica Matteoli, Natural Resource Officer, FAO

14:45 - 15.10

Key knowledge gained from the ground breaking Seawater Energy and Agriculture System (SEAS) project

• The challenges of creating a world first facility producing food and fuel on desert lands irrigated by seawater
• What we have learnt about the optimal agronomic practices and growing season of the Salicornia bigelovii plant in the UAE
• The recent structural upgrades to improve performance and the health of the plants and fish
• Scaling up the pilot project to a 200-hectare facility in readiness for commercialisation

Dr. Alejandro Rios Galvan, Director, Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium, Khalifa University

15.10 - 15.30

Break

15.30 - 16.00

Panel: Which crops will become mainstream in Middle Eastern Agriculture by 2030? 

• The markers for success in today’s crop farming environment
• Which crops have the greatest potential for sustainable growth in desert conditions?
• What are the regional demand trends and how will this shape the future of our agriculture?
• Farming techniques and technologies that will influence crop viability in the coming decade
• The growing role of organic farming in Middle Eastern agriculture and how this may affect crop diversity
• Which produce is bankable from a financier’s perspective? What are the risks of investing in a crop farm in the Middle East? 

Speakers include:

• Dr. Alejandro Rios Galvan, Director, Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium, Khalifa University
• Alexander Sabirov, CEO, Vegberry
• Elena Kinane, Founder, Greenheart Organic Farms
• Dr. Elke Neumann, Associate Professor, Integrative Agriculture (CFA), UAEA
  

16.00

Close of the 2020 conference