The changing food needs of the population, oriented towards diets of high nutritional value, guarantee fish products an important future despite the depleting numbers of fish in the sea, which is reaching exceptional levels of severity.

Aquaculture must play a fundamental role in meeting the market’s demand for fish products. In turn, this enables a reduced fishing via traditional systems, easing the demand on fish stocks and favouring their repopulation. The Mediterranean sea is one example where 98% of the fish species are suffering due to overfishing.

The long life cycles of farmed species (such as sea bream and sea bass), the overlapping cycles of production, the disease resistance, the feed costs and the inadequacy of the financial and banking systems to support the companies in this sector, are among the major problems that farmers of the Mediterranean area have to face. As a result, hatcheries are often operating below their actual potential.

This course aims to give an overview of the problems, perspectives and opportunities for sustainable aquaculture (for freshwater and saltwater fish), providing fundamental information on genetic markers as tools for selective breeding, as well as looking at biodiversity conservation strategies and new approaches to control animal disease (alternatives to antibiotics and vaccines) and feed fish.