Education and information for the Austrian fisheries and aquaculture sector

Point of Departure

Due to the increasing demand for fish and the simultaneous shortage of supply (overfishing of the oceans), aquaculture has experienced a strong upswing worldwide in recent years. Within the framework of the Austrian strategy for the promotion of national fish production until 2020, one of the goals stated was to increase the degree of self-sufficiency with domestic freshwater fish. Further training, information and advisory measures make a significant contribution to this, whereby the education project in question can be understood in particular as a response to the following initial situation in Austria:

• Few consultants and specialists in Austria
• Production sites spread all over the country
• Few specific educational opportunities and hardly any nationwide educational work
• New forms of production (such as recirculation systems and aquaponics)

Targets and target groups

• The primary objective of the projects was to increase the production and added value of aquaculture farms through continuous information measures and training offers.
• The following further objectives were pursued in the course of the educational project: Development of coordinated educational offers between the federal states (network and coordination of education providers) as well as development of new and additional educational offers, specifically to better address the target groups, but especially to support newcomers.
• The target groups of the project were in particular multipliers in the education sector and subsequently actors in the field of carp pond management, trout farming and aquaculture in recirculation systems (RAS), as well as professional fishing on lakes.

Project Implementation and Measures

The education project was implemented between 2015 and 2023 in coordination of the individual education providers in the federal states and with financial support from the Austrian EMFF programme 2014-2020 (Human Capital and Social Dialogue Action).

The educational offer included courses and conferences on a wide range of subject topics, which guarantee an offer tailored to the individual needs of participants – from newcomers to professionals. A broad mix of formats and methods was used, such as face-to-face, online or hybrid formats, as well as expert lectures, practical lessons, practical forums, panel discussions or company visits. Information provided covered all areas of aquaculture and fisheries:

• Getting started with aquaculture
• Pond construction and management
• Fish health
• Fish production, processing and marketing
• Dealing with fish predators
• Legal aspects
• Funding opportunities
• Sustainable management of lakes

From half-day courses to multi-year specialist and masters’ training, all nationwide offers were to be found in an annual education brochure. Also included were the 40-hour basic courses for the main production techniques (carp pond farming, trout breeding, RAS), which are recognised as a minimum qualification for investment support in the fisheries and aquaculture sector (EMFFand EMFAF).

Results and Effects

The main results of the project include:

• Significant further development of the entire Austrian aquaculture and fisheries sector through the creation of needs-based educational and advisory services for the quantitative as well as qualitative increase in fish production in aquaculture in Austria
• The wide range of supported education and training events for the small-scale sector has been very intensively accepted:94 events with a total of 896 teaching units for the training of a total of 426 participants have been implemented
• Professionalization and development of skills and strengths through a diverse and bundled offer throughout Austria
• Improved coordination and coordination of educational providers in the federal states in the development and implementation of overarching information measures, e.g. with regard to the organisation of events or the preparation of uniform information documents (brochures, folders, etc.)
• Purchase of image rights for a specific photo archive (“Archiv Aqua”)
• Programming of specific sub-sites on the websites of the Chambers of Agriculture of the federal states and the Austrian umbrella organisation (Austrian Chamber of Agriculture): Fische I LK Österreich (lko.at)
• Creation of educational films (DVDs, online video) on the topic of natural pond management recirculating aquaculture systems and professional fish otter fencing
• Even after the project has ended, the information and training measures continue to have an effect. The development of subject-specific information materials after the successful completion of the educational project further contributes to the dissemination of knowledge. And also the resulting network among the participants and with the experts continues to exist.