EAStalk webinars Nikos PapandroulakisOn November 3, at 14h (CET/Brussels time), Dr. Nikos Papandroulakis will present an EAStalk webinar on "Climate change impacts on Mediterranean finfish production: A case study in Greece".

Since 2012. Dr. Papandroulakis is Research Director at the Institute of Marine Biology Biotechnology and Aquaculture, of HCMR. He is Member of the Sectorial Scientific Council of the General Secretariat for Research and Technology for Agricultural Production, Food, Food, Agro-biotechnology and Aquaculture (since 2014). He is deputy Member of the National Aquaculture Council of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food (since 2015).

His research focuses on the improvement of the rearing methodologies and technologies of the Mediterranean aquaculture and the application of research results in the industry. He has worked on the specific diversification of the industry with emphasis on fast growers. He was involved in the development of offshore aquaculture concepts for multipurpose oceanic platforms. Recently he is interested in developing tools for new, monitoring, operation and decision making schemes, towards precision farming. He has been involved as coordinator or partner in 39 National and EU projects (https://aquatech.hcmr.gr/).

This webinar will cover:
Finfish aquaculture in the Mediterranean faces increasing challenges due to climate change and potential adaptation requires an assessment of the arising threats and opportunities. We present an approach developed in the frame of Climefish, to investigate effects of CC on the Greek sector, representative for the Mediterranean
Simulations suggest that fish will grow faster with production time shortened by several months by 2050. The effect will be region-specific and heavily dependent on managerial drivers (site selection: inshore/ offshore, market size, stocking month). Extreme events (storms and heatwaves) may negatively affect production by disrupting feeding and/or increasing mortality rates.
With the involvement of stakeholders, risks and opportunities have been identified. Climate drivers, as increased temperatures may promote fish growth and increase the production capacity at the farm level. However, growth irregularities, increased presence of pathogens, among others have been identified as risks with substantial consequences for the industry.
An adaptation strategy has been proposed with 37 adaptation measures, identified at the industry, policy, and research levels.
A Decision Support Software was developed aiming to support decision-making for Greek aquaculture stakeholders by simulating and visualizing climate impacts on biological and farm economic indicators. Based on a bio-economic approach, the DSS incorporates key biological, husbandry, and economic variables that are able to capture some of the complexities of the industry.

Video is available here.