🔄 Aquaculture 2025 Recap

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Aquaculture 2025 group and contributed valuable feedback through our exit survey! We’re thrilled to report that AIE respondents rated the conference highly, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.3/5)

Participants’ favorite sessions at the conference included the “Women and Underrepresented Identities in Aquaculture,” “Social Dimensions of Aquaculture (with a special shoutout to @trixiebetz ‘s talk),” “Science & Public Engagement,” the workforce development sessions, macroalgae, communities of practice, and the opening plenary talk by John Hargreaves.

As far as key takeaways from the conference, respondents emphasized the importance of collaboration, interdisciplinary connections, and community-building to propel aquaculture forward, frequently mentioning the need for refined workforce development and outreach efforts to ensure the industry remains welcoming, sustainable, and impactful.

Here’s what some attendees had to say:

“Aquaculture is a whole, large world of people that want to support each other and work together to make aquaculture better around the globe.” – @donatahaley

“Many people have too narrow of a focus – we need broader impact, more cross disciplinary sessions – especially on the first day.” – @Michael

“Much of the science seemed like it was being done in a vacuum and I hope there is a push to make information more available to the public.” – @elitvinoff

Respondents also made constructive suggestions like scheduling the conference during the week instead of over the weekend in the future, lowering conference costs to make it more accessible, and improving arrangements and space for poster presentations to allow for better engagement and networking opportunities.

There was also a proposal for creating “tracks” catered to different types of professionals so navigating the conference schedule would be easier and attendees would not have to miss panels of interest. There were also requests to leave more time for Q&A and dialogue in general, as well as offering more food options at receptions to accommodate different diets.

We deeply appreciate everyone’s thoughtful feedback and look forward to the Aquaculture America in Las Vegas next year!