Man has farmed terrestrial animals for at least six thousand years. True farming of the waters however, is a much more recent phenomenon, with the harvest of the seas long being considered as a task for the hunter/gatherer rather than the farmer.

The earliest farming efforts were by the Chinese, around 2500 years ago, but true aquaculture, where stocks are reared in a closed cycle from egg to adult, is a much more recent phenomenon.

In the 1950s less than 10% of the food fish available in the world was derived from culture.

By the turn of the 21st Century, the position had changed dramatically, such that half of all the fish and shellfish consumed was derived from aquaculture, which was the fastest growing food producing industry in the world.

In Scotland, salmon farming also grew to become the largest agricultural product, with an economic value well in excess of that of beef and sheep combined.

Scottish researchers have played a major role in the development of both the underlying science and the practical technology for aquaculture throughout the world.

Professor Ronald Roberts has been at the leading edge of these developments, in Scotland, South East Asia and the Americas for over forty years.

In his Weipers Memorial Lecture he will tell the story of these developments, and discuss the contribution of Scottish veterinarians and scientists to the health and welfare of farmed fishes over more than a hundred and fifty years.

The Lecture will be followed by a reception in the Hunterian Museum.

Date - June 7

Time - 6pm

Location - Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre, University of Glasgow

The Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre is located at the corner of University Avenue and Gibson Street - E15 on the campus map.

Ray McHugh (r.mchugh@admin.gla.ac.uk)

First published: 1 June 2007