By: Aquaculture Europe 2026
Previewing Aquaculture Europe 2026, this overview outlines three vital plenary sessions driving the sector’s future. Key topics analyze the shift from sustainability to climate resilience, translating scientific innovation into global digital storytelling, and overcoming policy barriers to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Plenary 1. Tuesday, Sep 29. 09.00 -10.00
“Aquaculture – from Sustainability to Resilience.”
Jurica Jug-Dujaković, MJD Consulting, Croatia.
Despite being one of the fastest-growing food sectors, aquaculture faces serious threats from global change that will inevitably affect its productivity and sustainability. Climate change will obviously have direct and indirect effects – not only on cultured species, but also on supply and product prices, including feed ingredients as well as goods and services required by aquaculture producers. Numerous reports illustrate that climate change effects on aquaculture will vary depending on geographical areas, economy, climatic zones, production systems, and cultured species.
As we move from “Sustainable Aquaculture” to “Resilient Aquaculture” the presentation will assess cultured species and the resilience of production systems. It will also review new technologies, production methods, and management strategies as a first step towards enhancing aquaculture production in response to climate change. Understanding these variables is essential for assessing the vulnerability of aquaculture systems and developing site-specific adaptation strategies that will also contribute to the food security expectations.
There are already small-scale examples combining aquaculture production with other agricultural strategies, either as integrated or separate systems, resulting in a symbiotic circularity. These technological and ecological innovations offer actionable pathways for climate adaptation and mitigation in both marine and freshwater environments and several case studies will be presented.
Jurica Jug-Dujaković is the head of the Biotechnology Department at MJD Advisory and Development. He has built a prominent career that encompasses scientific research, education, and innovative leadership in the aquaculture industry.
Jurica Jug-Dujaković, MJD Consulting, Croatia.
After graduating from the University of Zagreb, he was as a research assistant at the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Split before joining FAO as a country representative in MEDRAP. After 12 years working at the Institute – working as a manager in aquaculture research facilities – he moved to the USA working first as technical director and then as director of research and development for Integrated Food Technology Inc., an aquaculture technology company. He designed the first commercial closed recirculation nursery in the US and co-designed a commercial aquaponics facility that includes fish production in a closed aquaculture system, plant production based on aquaculture wastewater, and a fish processing plant. He was later elected as the representative of the state of Pennsylvania on the Technical and Advisory Council of the Northeast Regional Aquaculture Council, a body that evaluates research and development projects in aquaculture for US government institutions.
In 2005, he returned to Croatia as a Professor at the University of Dubrovnik for courses on aquaculture technology and design. He was also the director of the university’s Center for Business Innovation in Mariculture, which he co-designed. He works as a consultant for several Croatian and international companies on the design of aquaculture equipment and production systems and is a World Bank expert on aquaculture and the seafood market.
Prof. Jug Dujaković has published more than 200 scientific and professional papers and is the holder of two national patents and one internationally protected industrial design.
Plenary 2. Wednesday, Sep 30. 09.00 -10.00
“Breaking the Bubble: Making Aquaculture’s Stories Go Global.”
Larissa Lewis, SALT, UK and James Sibley, Aquaculture Creator, USA.
Despite rapid advances across farming systems, nutrition, health and technology, much of the sector’s progress remains largely invisible outside industry and research circles. As a result, aquaculture continues to face challenges around public understanding, workforce recruitment, investment confidence, social acceptance and the visibility of research and innovation. This combined presentation explores how aquaculture stories can move beyond this industry bubble – and what happens when they do.
Part 1 –Larisa Lewis: How Aquaculture Stories Travel (20 minutes)
Aquaculture research generates a vast amount of knowledge, yet much of this knowledge remains difficult for wider audiences to discover. The challenge is not simply communication, but how knowledge is structured, translated and discovered. Research outputs are typically designed for documentation: papers, reports and conference presentations. These formats are essential, but they are not designed for many of the audiences who shape the sector’s future – including entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, future workers and the wider public.
This presentation explores how aquaculture knowledge can be translated into formats designed for different audiences, from designing the user experience of knowledge platforms to producing film-led storytelling about the sector.
For research and innovation, this has growing importance. Producing knowledge is only one part of impact. Increasingly, researchers are expected to ensure their work is visible, discoverable and meaningful beyond journals, reports and conferences. Designing how aquaculture knowledge is structured and presented therefore becomes an essential part of how research and innovation reach wider audiences.
Part 2 – James Sibley: What Happens When Aquaculture Stories Reach Millions (20 minutes)
If storytelling pathways allow aquaculture knowledge to travel beyond the sector, digital media determines how far those stories can ultimately reach – and who encounters them first. For many people, platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok are now the first place they encounter aquaculture.
Through his online channels, aquaculture creator James Sibley brings global audiences directly inside farms, hatcheries and research facilities. His films translate complex farming systems, technologies and research into visual stories that reach millions of viewers and reveal how aquaculture production actually operates. Drawing on filming experiences across countries including Scotland, New Zealand, Australia and The Falklands, this presentation shares practical lessons from bringing aquaculture to large public audiences. It explores where common misconceptions about the sector tend to arise and how complex research and technologies can be explained clearly to wider audiences while maintaining scientific credibility.
These experiences illustrate how communication is becoming an increasingly important part of aquaculture’s development. When research and innovation are translated through formats that people actively engage with, they reach far beyond traditional industry channels – helping the sector become more visible, better understood and better equipped to build long-term public trust.
Larisa Lewis is a marine biologist working at the intersection of aquaculture, marketing and storytelling. Her career began in research, developing cultivation protocols for low-trophic aquaculture species across the UK, Sweden and Norway. Whilst at Seaweed Solutions, she ventured beyond the lab into the operational and market realities of commercial seaweed production. Across these roles, she saw the same challenge from different angles: aquaculture was creating real value, but too little of it was reaching the audiences, markets and decision-makers it needed. That gap led her into marketing and communications, first leading social and editorial strategy at The Fish Site, and now as Head of Operations at SALT, where she helps build purpose-led brands for the producers and innovators feeding the world.
Larissa Lewis, SALT, UK.
James Sibley is a digital storyteller specializing in global aquaculture and seafood systems. He creates short- and long-form video content that explores how seafood is produced − from hatchery to harvest − bringing transparency, science, and field-level reality to a global audience of over half a million followers across social media platforms. Originally trained in biology (B.S., Northeastern University), James has worked directly within the aquaculture industry, including a year-long role in Scotland with Mowi Scotland focused on novel communications and global engagement. His work bridges field operations and public understanding, producing documentary-style content from farms, hatcheries, and processing sites worldwide. He is currently focused on expanding his video work more globally to better tell the world’s stories in aquatic cultivation as they evolve in real time.
James Sibley.
Plenary 3. Thursday, October 1. 11.30 -12.30
“Towards Net Zero by 2050 and energy efficient EU aquaculture production”.
Callum Howard, Senior Consultant, MRAG, UK
The climate crisis poses fundamental challenges for aquaculture, reshaping not only what, how, and where we farm, but placing the sector under pressure to meet legally mandated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. Meeting these targets demands cross-cutting action across the entire value chain, requiring coordinated efforts from researchers, industry, and policymakers alike.
While viable solutions exist to reduce GHG emissions from aquaculture, achieving widespread adoption remains complex. High investment costs and operational demands present particular difficulties for an industry dominated, at EU level, by SMEs. Other promising solutions remain confined to pilots or research projects due to regulatory and political barriers and inadequate knowledge transfer mechanisms. Low-trophic aquaculture is frequently presented as a panacea and it can deliver genuine environmental benefits, but realizing its potential at scale requires overcoming significant barriers related to market development, spatial planning, and regulatory frameworks.
This presentation examines the pathways to achieving net zero in EU aquaculture, drawing on recent European Commission studies on emission reduction costs and pathways, and challenges and opportunities for the implementation of lower trophic production in Europe. It covers recommendations for carbon neutrality pathways as well as discussing policy, regulatory, and economic barriers that must be overcome to enable change.
Callum Howard is a Senior Consultant at MRAG, specializing in bridging research, policy, and commercial practice. His work focuses on advancing sustainable aquaculture technologies, supporting evidence-based policy, and strengthening the commercial viability of aquatic food systems.
Callum Howard, Senior Consultant, MRAG, UK.
Callum holds a PhD and MSc in Aquaculture from the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture. He has since worked across Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and the Middle East, advising clients including the World Bank, UNIDO, the European Commission, and private sector investors on projects ranging from GHG reduction pathways and digital transformation strategies to large-scale investment readiness and practical aquaculture training.
He is a committed advocate for aquaculture’s potential to generate livelihoods and address food and nutritional insecurity worldwide and is dedicated to making that potential a commercial and operational reality.
