International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium

The 8th fish and shellfish larviculture symposium (larvi '24) will be held in Ghent University, Belgium, from 9-12 September 2024.

Closing the life cycle of aquaculture species of economic importance is critical for the ultimate success of aquaculture. Predictable & cost-effective availability of high-quality fry, fingerlings, postlarvae, seed, spores, etc. remain the key for a successful aquaculture venture. Knowledge generated at many different levels can further increase the success of the sector. Much progress is being made in knowledge-based insights on e.g. the genetic make-up of the broodstock, steering the ontogeny, the importance of first feeding, steering host microbial interactions and its immunological consequences, automation, etc. Research in these fields are increasingly supported and stimulated by a variety of novel and sophisticated techniques such as omics’ and artificial intelligence tools. They generate an unprecedented and often fascinating insight into biological processes. Although they generally also raise new research questions, they stand for a major leap forwards as compared to the empirical approach of a relatively recent past.

Capitalising on the previous “larvi” symposia (in ’91, ’95, ’01, ’05, ’09, ’13, ‘17), the Aquaculture R&D Consortium of Ghent University, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and SINTEF Ocean have joined again in the organizing committee for “larvi’24” and are inviting the academic as well as the private sector to attend the 8th Fish and Shellfish Larviculture Symposium. Bringing together European and non-European stakeholders, once again the latest progress in academic research and in the production sector will be reviewed, problems identified and avenues for future collaboration explored.

Call for papers

Interested contributors to the symposium programme are hereby invited to submit to the Symposium Secretariat before 12 February, 2024 indicative titles and a 10-line summary of the contribution (paper or poster). Click here to submit your contribution.

The authors will be notified of the acceptance of their contribution and the kind of presentation (oral, poster, workshop) before March 15, 2024 at which time they will receive the instructions to authors for submission of their mini-paper. Authors who wish to submit full-length papers for selection and publication in the symposium proceedings will have to turn in their manuscript at the meeting.

Tentative programme 

SESSION I. BROODSTOCK MANAGEMENT, MATURATION AND SPAWNING
zootechniques, nutrition, egg and larval quality, domestication, sperm quality, genetics, germplasm preservation, genomics and proteomics, transgenics and GMOs.

SESSION II. DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY AND DEFORMITIES
ontogeny, developmental biology, behavior.

SESSION III.  LARVAL NUTRITION
nutritional requirements, feeding schemes, live food and its substitutes.
 
SESSION IV. LARVICULTURE AT COMMERCIAL SCALE
culture systems, automation, environmental requirements, socio-economic aspects.
 
SESSION V. DISEASE PREVENTION, PATHOGEN CONTROL, BIOSECURITY AND HEALTH
prebiotics, probiotics, diseases and pathogens, microbial management, viral and bacterial challenge tests, vaccination, phage therapy.

Date and place

The symposium will start on September 9, 2024 with registration for the larvi conference and the Artemia workshop (program will follow). All sessions will be held at the 'De Grote Post' in the city center of Ostend. More information about Ostend can be retrieved from https://www.visitoostende.be/en. The official opening session and reception will take place in the evening of September 9. The scientific sessions will be held from September 10 through September 12.

Ostend is a cosmopolitan city by the sea and is known as the 'Queen of seaside cities'. The wide sandy beaches, the attractive boulevards and the beautiful casino form the face of the seaside resort. Ostend is the most important coastal city in Belgium with a large fishing port and marina harbor, but Ostend is also a shopping city where you can go all year round. Happy to welcome you all there!  

The first conference of the “International Artemia Aquaculture Consortium” IAAC will be organized on September 9, 2024 at the same premises as the larvi conference. If interested to attend please complete the appropriate box on the larvi pre-registration form. More information on the program for the IAAC event will be updated on the IAAC website.

Registration

Persons interested in attending larvi 2024 are requested to fill in and return the pre-registration form to the Symposium Secretariat at their earliest convenience, in order to receive further updates on the conference.

Instructions for payment will be given in the second announcement.

Registration fees in Euro

	Prior to 1 May 2024	Prior to 1 August 2024	Later
Private company	445	550	800
Academic	295	370	800
Student*	210	320	800
Accompanying person (opening reception banquet and guided tour)	180	220	300

The registration fee includes admission to all symposium sessions, reception, coffee breaks and receipt of a symposium satchel, programme brochure and a digital version of the book of short communications (upon request a hard copy can be obtained at cost).

Banquet

Our institution recently obliged us to process registrations and meals separately. For this reason we also have to process the larvi banquet as a separate cost. The banquet will take place on Thursday evening (September 13) in the Venetian galleries of Ostend. The price for the banquet is €98.00.

Organisers

Annelies Declercq
Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center
Ghent University, Belgium

Kjell Inge Reitan
Center of Fisheries and Aquaculture
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Gunvor Øie
SINTEF Ocean
Trondheim, Norway

Secretariat

Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center
Ghent University, Belgium

Conference chairperson

Annelies Declercq
Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center
Ghent University, Belgium

Honorary conference chair

Patrick Sorgeloos
UGent Aquaculture R&D Consortium
Ghent University, Belgium

Scientific committee

• Annelies Declercq, Dominique Adriaens, Tom Defoirdt, Hans Nauwynck, Patrick Sorgeloos, Wim Van Den Broeck, and Vincent Vermeylen
  UGent Aquaculture R&D Consortium, Ghent, Belgium
• Kjell Inge Reitan, Ingrid Bakke,Yngvar Olsen, and Olav Vadstein
  Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
• Gunvor Øie and Maria Bergvik
  SINTEF Ocean, Trondheim, Norway
• Patrick Kestemont
  University of Namur, Belgium
• Peter De Schryver,
  INVE Aquaculture, Dendermonde, Belgium
• Parisa Norouzitallab
  Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
• George Koumoundouros
  University of Crete,Greece
• Constantinos Mylonas
  Hellenic Center for Marine Research, Crete, Greece
• Luis Conceição
  Sparos Lda, Algarve, Portugal
• Erick Ogello
  Maseno University, Kenya
• Ronaldo Cavalli
  Federal University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil
• Ana Farias Molina
  Universidad Austral de Chile, Puerto Montt, Chile
• Gonzalo Gajardo
  Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile
• Ian Butts
  Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA
• Atsushi Hagiwara
  Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
• Vu Ngoc Ut
  Can Tho University, Can Tho, Vietnam
• Yeong Yik Sung
  Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia.
• Liying Sui
  Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin, China
• Meezanur Rahman
  WorldFish, Bangladesh
• Julie Ekasari
  IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia

Sponsorship opportunities

Several public as well as private organizations are being solicited to sponsor the event. The complete list will be given in future announcements.

Private companies with larviculture-related activities are invited to sponsor this symposium through advertisements in the program booklet and on the larvi 2024 website www.aquaculture.UGent.be/larvi. More private as well as public organizations are being solicited to sponsor the event. The complete list will be given in future announcements.

Further information

The second announcement with detailed information and the tentative program will be e-mailed in spring 2024 to those persons who have returned the pre-registration form. Detailed information will also gradually become available on the larvi symposium website.

For further inquiries contact the conference secretariat:

Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center
Ghent university
Coupure links 653, Blok F
B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Phone : +32-9-2643754
http://www.aquaculture.UGent.be
e-mail: [email protected]