Denmark

Convincing fishers to have cameras on board is an uphill battle This article was featured in EUROFISH Magazine 2 2021.…

Steady progress towards understanding the eel This article was featured in EUROFISH Magazine 4 / 2020. An ongoing project to further knowledge about the European eel and to close the breeding cycle brings together researchers from DTU Aqua and companies interested in farming eels. The work in the project builds on the results from two others also coordinated by DTU Aqua. Significant progress has been made, but commercial production is probably still a decade away.

Kattegat Seaweed is part of Davai, a company specialising, among other activities, in the service and maintenance of physical infrastructure such as bridges, wind turbines, and transformer stations. Investing in seaweed stems from a conviction that a local company should be the first to find out whether a resource on its doorstep can be viably exploited.

A company in Denmark, Plastix, has established a way to reuse lost or abandoned fishing gear by converting it into pellets that can be used to produce plastic items. This gives multiple benefits for the environment.

The Danish Agrifish Agency, part of the Ministry of Environment and Food, is responsible for creating the conditions necessary for the sustainable growth of fisheries, including aquaculture, and agriculture. The agency has three broad areas of operation – legislation, subsidies, and control – which are used to exploit the country’s natural resources balancing the demands of the environment with that of industry. Bjørn Wirlander, Head of the EU and Fisheries Regulation Unit, and Anja Gadgård Boye, a colleague in the unit, speak here about some of the issues facing the Danish fisheries and aquaculture sector.

Falling numbers of coastal fishers and the disappearance of several fishing harbours due to a lack of activity have prompted parties in the Danish parliament to launch a series of initiatives intended to bolster this segment of the fishing sector and secure its long-term future.

While algae production and consumption is well established in Asia, in Europe it is less well known. However, as consumers focus increasingly on health and information about the benefits of algae become more widespread, this may be changing.

Fisheries Local Action Group Djursland

A group of associations from the aquaculture, fisheries, and related sectors have been tasked by the government to formulate a strategy for the growth and development of their industries as part of the government’s overall growth plan. The team has made concrete suggestions that can help remove barriers to growth, where they exist, as well as promote innovation and creative thinking to increase the competitiveness of the sectors.