"Context:Current training in the aquaculture sector is based on providing training for workers with traditional methodologies and materials, which do not adjust to current technological development or a European perspective. In addition, there is a lack of homogenization in aquaculture techniques and a lack of common regulation that increases the differences between the member countries. The need for a unified training and, above all, accessible to all and take advantage of ICT is clear.Goals:There are two main objectives in the project:1. To develop a Standardized Training Program at a European level for the aquaculture sector, which, in addition to including the training modules necessary for the qualification of professionals in the sector, also includes the training content required for their training in the competencies of health, welfare and physical-chemical controls of fish.2. To develop the program through an online platform that allows quick and free access to anyone who wishes to carry it out. Integrate this program into an App where the user can review the contents, make an evaluation of it and obtain a certificate of knowledge.The partners members of the consortium are the following:- BENEFICIARY: The Spanish Aquaculture Farmer's Association (APROMAR)- SGS TECNOS (Spain) Enterprise specialized in quality and labor training- The Italian Pisciculture Association API (Italy)- The DOKUZ EYLUL University (Turkey) marine science and technology department- The Croatian Chamber of Commerce CCE (Croatia)Activities carried out:The project has been focused on 3 main activities:1. Make a preliminary report: ROADMAP FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRAINING TOOLS AT THE EUROPEAN LEVEL: ""HEALTHY_FISH"" This report was necessary to know the state of the art of training in Europe, prior to the development of a new training program2. THE EUROPEAN HEALTHY_FISH STANDARDIZED TRAINING PROGRAM. The partners developed a program divided into 11 modules and available in 5 languages3. The Online Platform and App HEALTHY_FISH. The program has been integrated into the Moodle platform, allowing access to online content and through the MoodleMobile App. In addition, it includes evaluation questionnaires for modules that issue a certificate of achievement, signed by the project entities for those who approve the evaluation. This is all available at http://apromar.es/healthyfishapp/Results and impact achieved:The main result of the project is the provision of an innovative training tool to the professionals of aquaculture farms on fish health and welfare.The additional impacts that the project is generating are:- Creation of innovative training materials- Impulse to the implementation of e_learning in the sector- Promotion of vocational training activities for professionals- Promotion of linguistic diversity in the sector (the program is in English, Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Turkish)- Improving the competitiveness of the sector with the introduction of ICT- Implementation of more efficient and sustainable pisciculture techniques- Professionalization of workers in the sectorLong-term benefits:The project will favor the normalization of training in terms of the professional qualification of the personnel of the aquaculture sector at European level. It will be a support tool for standardizationHealthy Fish has the approval of FEAP (European Federation of Aquaculture Producers) who have known in first hand their development and are disseminating it in their networks, as well as from the EATIP (European Aquaculture Technology Innovation platform) In this way, communication between the professionals of the sector and the debate on what the quality and sustainability standards in fish farming should be is being promoted."

CONTEXT AND NEEDS:The aquaculture sector has experienced an important development over the last half-century, which has led it nowadays to account for nearly half of the fish supply in the world. It is expected that the increase in future fish demand will be satisfied through aquaculture production. Aquaculture accounts for about 20% of seafood production in Europe and directly employs about 85 000 people, mostly in rural and coastal areas. The sector has started to incorporate the principles of sustainability from early stages. However, in the fields of energy and water efficiency, the different proposals focus on acting on the main existing horizontal technologies, such as pumps or filtering systems, or on the optimization of energy contracts to reduce costs. These proposals mean an improvement that soon is diminished by the appearance of new inefficiencies in other points of the facilities or by productive changes that demand new revisions on the conditions of acquisition of energy. The high energy consumption of this sector is due to the need to use high consumption technologies, such as pumps, aerators, or tempering systems, as well as the fact that many of these facilities are located far from cores urban areas, making an additional difficulty in terms of availability of energy resources. For these reasons, there is a growing demand for a minimum level of training in the energy field that allows, both those responsible for the production and the technical teams in charge of the control and maintenance of the farms, to detect and act appropriately on the inefficiencies that may occur in different energy and water systems. OBJECTIVES: The consortium proposed the development of the training program Energy and Water Efficiency in Aquaculture (EWEAS) whose objective was to offer these professionals the necessary skills to: - Detect significant plant consumption and establish its optimum working range. - Perform and interpret the measurements of energy consumption in the main equipment. - Get to know and understand the different concepts of billing and hiring of energy supplies, in order to facilitate decision-making - Determine which are the most relevant energy consumption indicators and their current values, as well as being able to recognize the variations that they may encounter, as an indication of improvements or problems in production.- - To be able to assess the foreseeable impact on these indicators of the proposals for energy or water improvement that may arise in the future, The tools provided address the computerized treatment of the information collected and the analysis of energy indicators and improvement proposals. It provides the operational managers of the centers, the capacity, and necessary tools for continuous plant control. Planning, detection of needs and evaluation of alternatives and decision-making is essential to guarantee an adequate future operation of the farms, from the point of view of energy and water efficiency. The training program has been transformed into an e-learning program to make all these resources available to the sector through an interactive platform. This Open Educational Ressource is accesible online to everyone The EWEAS program proposes best practices, innovative tools, and practical solutions in order to increase growth and productivity by reducing their carbon footprint and wastewaters. CONSORTIUM: -SGS Tecnos (Spain) is a multinational company leader in certification, inspection, and testing, with strong expertise in energy efficiency and environment, as well as being ERASMUS + project leader and coordinator, with great results success. - API (Italy) The Italian Fish Farm association, the main representative of the aquaculture sector in Italy. - AquaTT (Ireland) is an SME with a not-for-profit mandate which works to empower research in aquaculture and marine sectors. - KGZS - Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia is the representative organization for the agriculture, forestry, and fishery - Biedrība Eurofortis (Latvia) is an expert in European educational projects, developing learning tools and methods, as well as e-learning materials. BENEFICIARIES AND IMPACT:The main beneficiaries of this new training program are the aquaculture workers, professional associations of the sector, fish farm managers, energy agencies, as well as public and private training centers. The EWEAS program facilitates self-management and control of water and energy consumption, giving them simple tools for their control and management, it reduces their energy bill as well as the carbon emissions and wastewaters. These companies increase their energy efficiency and are able to accede to better certification, and their workers can gain professional skills, computer literacy, increase their mobility, and the procedures in the aquaculture facilities are more homogeneous at the European level.

Aquaculture is a strategic sector for Europe. A consortium of key European players in the European aquaculture sector (business associations and aquaculture companies), universities, Vocational Training Centres and research centres with experience in the sector propose the creation of a reference training programme AQUATECHInn 4.0 that brings together the most innovative technological and productive advances developed for the sector, adapted to the new Industry 4.0. Incorporating Virtual Reality and Gamification and responding to the new demands of the labour market.The project has a duration of 36 months and consists of 3 transversal WP: WP1. Management, WP9. Project evaluation and quality control, WP10. Dissemination and exploitation. And 7implementation work packages:WP2. Approach to digitisation, collection of good practices and training programmes of the aquaculture sector to be digitised. WP3. General structure of the AQUATECHInn 4.0 Training Programme and definitions of the integrated Modules and the WPs that will develop the structure of the AQUATECHInn 4.0 Course Modules.WP4. MODULE A. New technologies in fish and shellfish aquaculture. WP5. MODULE B. Sustainability management in aquaculture. WP6. MODULE C. Management of animal health and biosecurity, welfare, nutrition and reproduction.WP7. Results e-learning platform. Development and integration of VR/gamification activities. WP8. Pilot experiences and follow-up. The final products of the Projects are advanced training tools based on digital blended learning, with the use of simulators, gamification and open educational resources (MOOCs).●2 Virtual Reality learning scenarios ●1 Training in the context of Gamification ●4 Training videos in WP6●1 Explanatory video in WP4 with new technologies in the Aquaculture sector ●2 Informative videos in WP10 ●1 MOOC educational platform of online training modality characterised by massive and open online courses ●4 Multiplier Events●1 Final Conference

Gilthead sea bream and European sea bass are by volume the third and fourth most farmed fish species in the EU, while their collective value surpasses that of salmon, trout or mussel. These two species are farmed and contribute significantly to wealth and job creation in rural and coastal areas in all EU Mediterranean countries. However, production of sea bream/bass in the EU has remained stagnant for the last decade and the industry faces significant sustainability challenges. The overarching objective of PerformFISH is to increase the competitiveness of Mediterranean aquaculture by overcoming biological, technical and operational issues with innovative, cost-effective, integrated solutions, while addressing social and environmental responsibility and contributing to “Blue Growth”. PerformFISH adopts a holistic approach constructed with active industry involvement to ensure that Mediterranean marine fish farming matures into a modern dynamic sector, highly appreciated by consumers and society for providing safe and healthy food with a low ecological footprint, and employment and trade in rural, peripheral regions. PerformFISH brings together a representative multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary consortium to generate, validate and apply new knowledge in real farming conditions to substantially improve the management and performance of the focal fish species, measured through Key Performance Indicators. At the core of PerformFISH design are, a) a link between consumer demand and product design, complemented with product certification and marketing strategies to drive consumer confidence, and b) the establishment and use of a numerical benchmarking system to cover all aspects of Mediterranean marine fish farming performance. Created knowledge and innovative solutions will underpin the developed code of conduct and good practices and will foster modernization through capacity building of the Mediterranean aquaculture workforce.