Organized by the Official Veterinary College in Lugo and directed by Luis A. Pérez Carrasco, veterinarian doctor in Aquaculture and Director of Acuinuga’s Aquaculture Division, the course entitled “Health, water treatment and production technologies in Aquaculture” took place during March, April and May 2008.
This technical training course arose from the premise that veterinarians are an essential part in all sanitary and production aspects of the production of aquatic animal production, such as epidemiology, record-keeping and marketing of aquaproducts, substance prescription, prevention and diagnosis of aquatic diseases both in fresh and saltwater environments, etc.
The course was structured around five workshops covering the areas: new water treatment technologies, animal health and feed technology, innovation in marine fish production, new technologies for the production of freshwater fish and innovation in the production of mollusks and crustaceans.
These workshops were divided in four technical modules, and a speaker with relevant expertise in the field was invited to deliver a dedicated presentation. Invited speakers were Leandro Fernández from Stolt Sea Farm (Spain), Dr. Natalio García Garbi from DKFZ Institute in Heidelberg (Germany), Dr. Neil Duncan from IRTA/University of Stirling (UK), Dr. Victor Oiestad from Akvaplan Niva (Norway) and Dr. Ana Roque from IRTA/Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (Portugal).
Lasting for 60 hr, the course was accredited by the official evaluation system of the Conselleria de Sanidade within the Galician regional government, and with 60 participants attending, the enrollment expectations were widely surpassed.