The first Annual Meeting of the TAPAS project was held in Sliema, Malta, between 4th and 5th April 2017. After several individual work package meetings and internal workshops over the past year, the Annual Meeting was a great opportunity for all partners to meet, review progress and discuss the next phase of the project. The meeting marked the end of a busy and important first year, setting up another exciting year ahead as TAPAS moves into Year 2.
The first day, chaired by Prof Lindsay Ross, focused on tasks and activities in the TAPAS Work Packages. Prof Trevor Telfer, TAPAS coordinator, started the meeting by presenting a strategic overview of the project, highlighting key points for discussion and congratulating partners for all of the hard work over the last year. Each Work Package leader then gave a presentation on aims, progress, and future plans. There were plenty of opportunities for lively discussion and several partners also gave more detailed information on specific aspects of their work, including some initial results which will inform the final design of the case study experiments and the final tool-box formats.
The second day involved more general discussion and consideration of the wider TAPAS aims. Members of the TAPAS Advisory Board also attended the meeting and provided valuable insights into the different issues faced by the sector and made suggestions regarding how TAPAS outcomes could help with sustainable development and management of European aquaculture. Dr. Paul Tett, coordinator of the H2020 AquaSpace project (http://www.aquaspace-h2020.eu/), also presented an overview and some results from their Scottish case study.
AquaBioTech Group, who was hosting the meeting, also organized a field trip for partners to visit the case study sites in Malta.