From November 22 to December 9, 2022, I made a business trip to Southeast Asia to visit partners in Thailand and Vietnam as well as the World Aquaculture Conference in Singapore. The first part of the trip included a visit to the laboratory of Dr. Hien Van Doan (Department of Animal and Aquatic Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University), where we discussed the possibilities of further cooperation in the field of nutrition, circular approaches to aquaculture and biofloc technology. In the next part of the trip, I attended the World Aquaculture conference in Singapore. In the last part of the trip, within the framework of the TAČR Delta bilateral project, I visited the collaborating Research Institute for Aquaculture Nr. 1. As part of this meeting, there were a presentation of the results of the project testing the use of ozone, oxygen and air nanobubbles and planning of further activities. We also visited commercial partners of the project (rainbow trout and Siberian sturgeon farmers in the north of Vietnam).

Written by: V. Stejskal

On 10. 9. - 13. 9. 2023 I attended the EUROTOX International Toxicology Conference held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I presented a poster of the research activity and discussed it with the other participants. The overseas trip was financed by projects GAJU 080/2023/Z and GAJU 114/2022/Z.

Exchange of professional and educational experiences in fish farming

On March 11^th–15^th, 2024, we completed a business trip to Latvia. We visited the Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment (BIOR) and its Aquaculture Research and Education Centre near the town of Kegums. Here, we exchanged professional and educational experiences in the field of fish farming with colleagues from BIOR and with local fish farmers. The main discussed topics concerned health issues, genetics, breeding, reproduction and culture of common carp and other species suitable for pond farming. We also had the opportunity to visit the nearby breeding facility of the BIOR, which specializes on the reproduction and re-stocking of Atlantic salmon, sea trout, pikeperch and whitefish. The facility produces also stocking material of sturgeon, common carp and rainbow trout for fish farmers. We could see also the impressive fish-rearing fall just before completion. The hall was divided into several separate rooms with recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) for culture of fish broodstocks and their offspring. The knowledge gained will be used in the innovation of the courses of the bachelor's study program Fishery at our faculty. The journey was realized with the support of the USB project from the fund of the National Recovery Plan (goal A3) financed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.

Written by: Martin Kocour

From 8^th to 12^th April 2024, a five-day excursion was made with Master's students for the subjects “Culture of Warm-water Fishes” and “Pond Aquaculture“. A total of 20 different fish farms in the Czech Republic and Slovakia – fisheries, fish hatcheries, organizations, fish flow-through and recirculation farms, cage-fish culture, ponds, aquaponics, water structures, fish processing objects, fish shops, exhibitions, etc. The program included tasting fish specialities (ham, smoked fillets, sausages and spreads from African catfish, carp pate, etc.), but also participation in the artificial spawning of the Danubian salmon and a discussion with the SRZ Registrar. A total of eleven facilities were visited in the Czech Republic: Chov ryb Vaněk Josef, Tilapie, s.r.o., Vodní dům, Future Farming, a.s., Jezírka Banat, s.r.o., Rybníkářství Pohořelice, a.s., ZD Hrotovice, MO MRS, z.s., MO MRS, z.s., Rybářství Lipnice, s.r.o. and „Kapří paštika“ in Poříčí. A total of nine facilities were visited in Slovakia: MO SRZ, o.z., Rybárstvo Kamenný potok, s.r.o., Rybárstvo Krpeľany, Slovryb, a.s., SRZ Rada – Liptovská Mara a Slovianska dolina, PETRA-AQUA s.r.o., Agro rybia farma, o.z., and Gabčíkovo waterworks.

The excursion was realized thanks to the financial support of IAPW resources for teaching. We hereby thank the faculty management for their support!

Prof. Ing. Jan Kouřil, Ph.D., Ing. Ján Regenda, Ph.D. a Ing. Markéta Dvořáková Prokešová, Ph.D.

On 6^th and 7^th March 2024, a short visit was made to the United High Schools in Ivanka pri Dunaji, Slovakia. This institution celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the high school fisheries education in Slovakia. The delegation from the Faculty of Fisheries and Water Protection of SBU consisted of Prof. Policar, Associate Prof. Kocour and Dr. Regenda. The programme included a tour of the school, a short cultural programme and a social evening. Among the invited guests were former teachers, graduates of the school and a number of fish farmers from the whole Slovakia, partner fisheries schools from the Czech Republic and several guests from Hungary. The programme also included the awarding of several prizes for lifelong work and contribution to the development of the school and its fisheries education. The new management of FROV JU discussed with the Head of the school the possibility of our further and deeper cooperation in the mode of a faculty high school.

Tomáš Randák, Roman Grabic and Vladimír Žlábek from the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Biochemistry participated on the 4^th International Conference on Environmental Pollution, Restoration, and Management (ICEPORM 2024), which was held in Quy Nhon, Vietnam from March 3^rd to 7^th 2024. The goal of the conference was to meet scientists from developed and developing countries, transfer knowledge, and establish cooperation in environmental protection. During the conference, we presented two expert lectures and one poster. After the end of the conference, the foreign participants met with the deputy prime minister and the minister of the environment of Vietnam in Hanoi.

Ve dnech od 26. do 29. června 2022 jsem v rámci projektu „OBJEVOVAT A CHRÁNIT: Ohrožené světy vodních ekosystémů a jejich biodiverzity“ absolvoval pracovní cestu do Bruselu. Cílem bylo pořídit záběry do připravovaného propagačního videa na téma Udržitelná akvakultura s českým atašé Tomášem Vacenovským ze Stálého zastoupení ČR v EU. Dalším výstupem cesty bylo natočení podcastu se zaměstnancem FROV JU Martinem Musilem, který je v Bruselu na Stálém zastoupení ČR na pracovní stáži. Tématem podcastu bylo sdílení zkušeností Martina Musila ze svého pobytu v Bruselu a přiblížení agendy zaměřené na udržitelnou akvakulturu. Aktivity pracovní cesty byly podpořeny z  Fondů EHP a Norska 2014–2021 – program CZ-ENVIRONMENT.

Napsal Mgr. Miroslav Boček

Dne 16. 6. 2022, Ilona Prokopová, Christoph Steinbach a Pavel Šauer odcestovali do Leibniz-Institut für Gewasserokologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB) v Berlíně v Německu, kde jsme dostali ryby druhu danio pruhované (Danio rerio) a žáby drápatky vodní (Xenopus laevis) pro použití jako chovná zvířata a také jsme obdrželi histologické vzorky. Během naší návštěvy s prof. Dr. M. Stöck, Sascha Behrens a Dr. I. Lutz jsme diskutovali probíhající i budoucí projekty. Dostali jsme možnost prohlédnout si výzkumná a experimentální zařízení s Arapaimou gigas, kde jsme dostali nové informace o žábách Xenopus a rybách Danio rerio. Velmi děkujeme Dr. T. Meineltovi a Dr. Ilce Lutz za darování zvířat a doc. K. Knopfovi za prohlídku (viz obrázek). Tato cesta byl umožněn díky grantu GAČR 22-19136S.

Jitka Kolářová, Christoph Steinbach a Thora Lieke se zúčastnili 21. mezinárodní konference o chorobách ryb a korýšů (11.-14.9.2023), která se konala v Aberdeenu, a také workshopů o histologii ryb a bioinformatice (10.9.2023). Byly prezentovány postery týkající se účinků levonorgestrelu na kapra obecného (Cyprinus carpio) a bezpečnosti antihelmintických koupelí s levamisolem, fenbendazolem a ivermektinem pro juvenilní kapry. Byly předneseny příspěvky o vlivu kyseliny fulvové na slizniční imunitu ryb a o vlivu fixačních prostředků na uchování pankreatické tkáně.

Děkujeme všem spoluautorům a fakultě rybářství a ochrany vod. Tato cesta byla podpořena Ministerstvem školství, mládeže a tělovýchovy ČR (CENAKVA-LM2018099), Nadací vědeckých společností ČR (č. 22-19136S), Ministerstvem zemědělství ČR (č. QK22020144) a cenou EAFP pro mladé vědecké pracovníky.

The International Conference of Alien Invasive Species (ICAIS) arrived in Europe for the third time in its history. Its theme was global climate change amplifying aquatic invasive species impacts to demonstrate the interconnectedness of invasive species issues and inspire international collaboration on research projects on a global scale.

This conference took place in Oostende (Belgium) at the Hotel Thermal Palace on the 19th – 22nd of April. Almost 400 participants from 39 countries presented more than 180 oral contributions and 50 posters.

Three faculty members gave their oral presentations:

Ismael Soto presented his work about the trends and effects of alien crustaceans in the recipient ecosystem in Europe. He focused on increasing trends of invasive species using Ponto-Caspian species, their impacts on compositional and functional ß-diversity and lastly, the population dynamics of the killer shrimp.

Jan Kubecpresented his work comparing behavioural interactions among four invasive crayfish in three different temperatures. He analysed the interactions and the behavioural dominance across the gradient of temperatures.

Antonín Koubapresented his work about the survival, growth, and reproduction of marbled crayfish compared to other prominent crayfish invaders under two temperature regimes.

From March 28 to June 29, 2022, we participated in the conference "Science for practice - cooperation unites", which was organized in Ivánka pri Dunaji by the Slovak Fish Breeders' Association in cooperation with the Slovak Ichthyological Society. The conference was attended by 47 representatives from the academic and production sectors of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary. Contributions were presented by Regenda, J.: Fish-eating predators in the Czech Republic and compensation for damages in fisheries, Regenda, J.: Aeration insert for fish tanks, Policar, T.: Innovative projects in aquaculture companies in the Czech Republic and Stejskal, V.: Culture of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis) and rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiis) in a multitrophic aquaculture system - a case study from Ireland.

Written by: V. Stejskal, J. Regenda and T. Policar

XIX. The conference of the Czech Limnological Society and the Slovak Limnological Society took place in Bratislava (Slovakia) on June 20-24, 2022. Oral and poster presentations dealt with the topic of running waters through stagnant waters to legislation. The pond section, in which I presented an oral presentation entitled "Meta-analysis of production ponds: preliminary results", was held on the last day of the conference on Friday. The discussion was fruitful and brought us many new ideas on where to advance pond research.

The book of abstracts is here.

The international conference SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) took place in Copenhagen (Denmark) from 15 to 19 May 2022. The conference was attended by more than 1,500 presenters, mainly from Europe. One research topic connected all participants: the pollution of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems by emergent pollutants, including pesticides, drugs, microplastics and other persistent substances and their metabolites. For example, an exciting topic was how to effectively reduce the dispersion of plastics into the environment by applying the theory of "Upstream Innovation" to the circular economy. The use of invertebrates in ecotoxicology was a thematic track in which I presented a poster entitled "Integrated biomarker response in signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus exposed to diphenhydramine".

I attended a meeting of Biological Resources Centers CRB-Anim as a member of its international board from May 30 to June 1, 2022 in Paris. The goal of the national infrastructure project CRB-Anim in France is strengthening and integration of biological research centers ensuring the preservation of reproductive and genetic material of domestic livestock mammals, birds, fish, shellfish and bees.

Ve dnech 30.05.–01.06.2022 jsem se v Paříži zúčastnil zasedání Biological Resources Centers CRB-Anim jakožto člen její mezinárodní rady. Cílem infrastrukturního národního projektu CRB-Anim ve Francii je posílení a integrace biologických výzkumných center zabezpečující uchování reprodukčního a genetického materiálu domácích hospodářských zvířat savců, ptáků, ryb, korýšů a včel.

Four employees from the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters USB (Antonín Kouba, Paride Balzani, Francisco Oficialdegui, and Ismael Soto) participated in a targeted eradication program against the first known population of the highly invasive red swamp crayfish in Slovakia. Its population occurs in the upper stretches of the Čepčínský brook located near Turčianské Teplice. The eradication lasting from 21st to 23rd September 2023 combined several approaches, including day and night hand-catching and liming, and resulted in more than 5,000 individuals eliminated.

Čtyři zaměstnanci z Fakulty rybářství a ochrany vod JU (Antonín Kouba, Paride Balzani, Francisco Oficialdegui a Ismael Soto) se zúčastnili cíleného programu eradikace první známé populace vysoce invazního raka červeného na Slovensku. Jeho populace se vyskytuje v horních úsecích Čepčínského potoka nacházejícího se poblíž Turčianských Teplic. Eradikace, která probíhala od 21. do 23. září 2023 a kombinovala několik přístupů, včetně denního a nočního ručního odchytu a vápnění, vedla k odlovení více než 5 000 jedinců.

From September 26 to October 3, 2022, I made a business trip to the feed company NaturAlleva (Cologna Veneta, Italy). The trip's content was practical training in the field of assembling feed mixtures, evaluation, and analysis of input raw materials, evaluation of product quality, setting of the extruder, and final treatment of feed. During the training, we discussed current developments and new approaches in fish nutrition. Another joint experiment was also planned.

Written by: Vlastimil Stejskal

Financovaná cesta Erasmus+ do Bodø za profesorem Jorge Galindo-Villegasem na Nord University se ukázala jako neocenitelná zkušenost při rozšiřování znalostí o imunologii ryb. Využití modelu zebratky poskytlo jedinečnou platformu pro studium těchto imunitních procesů v kontrolovaném laboratorním prostředí. Návštěva poskytla unikátní studijní prostředí, umožňující zapojení do praktického výzkumu.

Dále návštěva usnadnila výměnu nápadů a odborných znalostí, podporující spolupráci, která má potenciál vést k budoucím výzkumným úsilím. Návštěva navíc usnadnila výměnu myšlenek a odborných znalostí a podpořila spolupráci, která má potenciál být hnacím motorem budoucího výzkumu. Spolupráce s kolegy výzkumníky a studenty na Nord University rozšířila mé chápání imunologie ryb a jejího významu pro akvakulturu a vědu o životním prostředí a položila pevný základ pro další přínos v této oblasti. Jsem vděčný za tuto příležitost a těším se na uplatnění poznatků získaných z této zkušenosti v budoucích akademických a výzkumných projektech.

The Erasmus+ funded trip to Bodø to visit Professor Jorge Galindo-Villegas at Nord University proved to be an invaluable experience in extending knowledge about fish immunology. The utilization of the zebrafish model provided a unique platform for studying these immune processes in a controlled laboratory setting. The visit provided an immersive learning environment, allowing for hands-on engagement with cutting-edge research.

Furthermore, the visit facilitated the exchange of ideas and expertise, fostering collaborations that have the potential to drive future research endeavors. Engaging with fellow researchers and students at Nord University broadened my understanding of fish immunology and its relevance to aquaculture and environmental science, laying a solid foundation for further contributions to the field. I am grateful for the opportunity and look forward to applying the insights gained from this experience in future academic and research projects.