The second WEFTA conference to happen in the Faroe Islands shows once more the leading role of the destination in the fishery industry – the 49th WEFTA (West European Fish Technologists Association) Conference took place in October 2019.
The story of WEFTA started back in 1970 when (young) scientists from the various fish technology institutes were first coming together to discuss research activities of common interest. Since then, yearly meetings/conferences are organized. After 48 years of annual conferences, the 49th WEFTA conference took place in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands from the 15–17 October 2019.
The Faroe Islands have been active in WEFTA since the end of the 1970s and this is the second time the Faroe Islands have hosted the WEFTA conference. The first time was in 2000. Food scientists, PhD students and fish processing industries find a valuable platform at the WEFTA conference to present their latest research achievements and share valuable experiences in the field of fish industry and aquatic products, quality and safety.
The Fisheries Research Fund at the Ministry of Fisheries is the permanent national representative member institute of WEFTA and Jákup Mørkøre was the inviting local host.
A series of very interesting technical visits completed the knowledge exchange and helped to build new relationships. Included were
1: Aquaculture and feed production — Eysturoy
2: Ground fish, Klaksvík and pelagic production, Fuglafjørður
3: Pelagic industry — Suðuroy
More details https://wefta2019.com/94.
Fishery is the most important industry and source of income in the Faroe Islands – here is an overview of the organisations dealing with fishery and ocean/marine subjects:
1) The sector is managed and supported by the Ministry of Fisheries in the government, which looks after public interests in the society and environment. It is responsible for Fisheries Management, Fisheries Research, Whaling, National Emergency Preparedness, Search and Rescue and Meteorological Services.
(information taken from the government’s website — https://www.government.fo/en/the-government/ministries/ministry-of-fisheries/)
Jákup Mørkøre is the research coordinator at the ministry of fisheries and therefore responsible for the administration and best use of the Fisheries Research Fund. The fund’s intention is to stimulate both scientific and industrial R&D projects in order to develop the Faroese fishing industry, harvesting, processing and trade, with regard to biologically, economically and socially sustainable use of the ocean’s resources.
Jákup is a Visit Faroe Islands Meetings Ambassador and one of the initiators of the recent WEFTA conference — see further down in the text.
2) The House of Industry is the representative body for the private sector, it brings together the business associations in the Faroe Islands and is managed by the Faroese Employers Association. The focus of the House of Industry is to ensure that the Faroese industry has the best possibilities to compete, produce and develop which also underlines the importance of welfare and growth for the Faroese Industry.
Two branch associations within the house of industry look after the interests of the fishery industry:
The Faroese fish farmers association — which represents 100 % of all fish farmers (offshore aquaculture) on the islands
And the Faroese Fish producers association, which is a branch organization for all Faroese land based producers of ground fish. Ground fish is one of the main commercial species of fish caught in Faroese waters — demersal (ground fish) species such as cod, haddock, coalfish, and redfish. The association represents more than 90% of all land based fish production of ground fish on the Faroe Islands.
The catches of demersal fish landed in the Faroe Islands are either exported fresh or processed into fresh fillets, frozen fillets or wet salted fish. Other species are processed into fish meal and oil, or feed for the fish farms. The primary export markets are Denmark (shrimp), Great Britain (cod and haddock), Germany, France (cod, redfish, black halibut), the Mediterranean countries (salted fish), USA (frozen cod and haddock) and Japan (shrimps, trout).
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More reading on #marine #ocean #water #fishery and related matters in the Faroe Islands:
Follow Visit Faroe Islands Meetings – company profile on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/visitfaroeislandsmeetings/
The Faroese Maritime Authority – website: https://fma.fo/forsida/
Primary objectives: to improve safety at sea, protect the marine environment and to safeguard the rights of our customers.
The Faroese Maritime Authority is a well-organized maritime administration that offers quality services to the maritime industry, the local government and to all customers.
Shipowners association – negotiate wage agreements with the relevant labour unions
https://www.industry.fo/international-edition/employers-associations/shipowners-of-the-faroe-islands
Fish producers:
Vardin Pelagic –a major pelagic processing plant, visited during the WEFTA technical visit number 3 – website: https://vardin.fo/en/
Bakkafrost – the 8th largest salmon company in the world – it is the most vertically integrated salmon farming company in the world which gives Bakkafrost full control and responsibility over all aspects of production, website: https://www.bakkafrost.com/
Previous Article on https://www.tmf-dialogue.net/faroese-excellence-bakkafrost-builds-the-worlds-biggest-smolt-production-facility.html
Bioeconomy:
Ocean Rainforest/Syntesa – Seaweed cultivation and Blue Bioeconomy in the Faroe Islands – http://www.oceanrainforest.com/
Previous Article on https://www.tmf-dialogue.net/nordic-seaweed-industry-of-the-future.html
The rapidly developing Nordic Bioeconomy (excerpt “State of the Nordic Region 2018”) https://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1180749/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Health:
Department of Occupational Medicine and Public Health, The Faroese Hospital System: Prof. Pal Weihe about health effects of seafood consumption and promotion of marine-based food – https://www.tmf-dialogue.net/state-of-the-art-research-on-the-faroese-islands-impact-of-chemicals-in-food-on-human-health-particularly-on-pregnant-women-and-their-children.html
If you are involved in planning meetings or conferences related to topics in marine, aquaculture, fishery business – you got your perfect destination here in the Faroe Islands!
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More about the knowledge clusters on the LinkedIn company profile of Visit Faroe Islands Meetings and on www.tmf-dialogue.net
