Zprávy ze zahraničních cest

Between 5th and 8th November 2024, Hung Quang Tran and Vlastimil Stejskal visited Aquaforum at the School of Agricultural, Forest, and Food Sciences, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland. During this period, we engaged in various collaborative activities, including biometric assessments for European perch for an upcoming experiment, as well as discussions on the progress of an ongoing project investigating novel protein ingredients for aquatic animals.

I participated in VIV Asia, an international event dedicated to animal protein production and its associated sectors, held in Bangkok, Thailand, as well as Vietshrimp, a platform that brings together stakeholders to discuss and explore solutions for the sustainable development of the shrimp industry, held in Can Tho, Vietnam. In addition to attending these events, I conducted visits to several institutions and companies engaged in aquaculture research. In Thailand, these included the Faculty of Fisheries at Kasetsart University, the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), the Center of Excellence in Shrimp Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Mahidol University, and PC Farm Thailand. In Vietnam, I visited the College of Aquaculture and Fisheries at Can Tho University and Shrimpvet. This trip was supported by AD Aquaculture Nutrition and Prince Edward Island, Canada, under funding number 202501-41.

In May 2025, Paride Balzani was at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University (Turkey) for a teaching and research visit. During this time, he gave two seminars: „Biological Invasions and Ecosystem Disruption: Causes, Consequences, and Challenges“ and „Introduction to functional response experiments“, and performed functional response experiments on the invasive blue crab (Callinectes sapidus). 

From 5 to 9 May 2025, I participated in the "staff week" at the University of Alanya in Turkey. Ninety staff members from different universities (40 countries) participated in this staff week. The week's programme included mainly familiarization with the University of Alanya, including a visit to the Rector's Office and networking with the possibility of cooperation.

From 3^rd to 9^th February 2025, Václav Nebeský and Tomáš Policar visited the international trade fair Agroexpo 2025 in Izmir, Turkey. The trade fair stand of the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters USB was prepared and supported by the Czech Consulate in Istanbul, whose employees were also present at the stand. The mission also included a visit to Ege University, where a meeting was held at the Faculty of Fisheries.

Written by: Václav Nebeský, Tomáš Policar

Business Visit to MAT-KULING and Future Fish Asia Exhibition & Conference (Izmir, Turkey October 9th – 13th, 2024)

The purpose of this business trip was to visit Future fish Asia exhibition and conference and MAT-KULING factory, a leading equipment manufacturer for Recirculating Aquaculture Systems. Visit aimed to strengthen relationships, explore opportunities, and attend seminars and presentations focused on the future of RAS technology.

The seminar sessions were highly informative, covering topics such as:

• Growth Potential for RAS in the US presented by Edward Aneshansley (Eda-Aquatic Design Services).
• Innovative Technology Development at Nofima Norway focusing on CO2 degassing and electrical biofiltration, presented by Kevin Torben Stiller (Nofima).
• Combining RAS with Outdoor Pond Fish Culture: Advantages and Risks, where I had the opportunity to present the ongoing research.
• Closing the Knowledge Gap in the RAS Industry by Jonas Junker  (Bengtsen, Founder, IfAqua ApS)
• BalticWaters Fish Lab: A New Cold Water Fish Laboratory by Konrad Stralka (BalticWaters)
• Improvements in Fish Production with MAT-KULING Products by Simon Durejka (Swiss Lachs).

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Vít Profant, Team Leader at MAT-KULING AS in Bodø, Nordland, Norway, for kindly inviting and hosting me during this event.

From 3^rd to 11^th August 2024 I was on a business trip to Uruguay at the Universidad de la República, where I was invited by colleagues Dr Denise Vizziano Cantonnet and German Benech to help them with experiments on functional gene analyses in sturgeon. We plan to continue and further develop this collaboration.

From April 22 to June 23, 2024, I was a guest at the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Chicago, in Woods Hole. The staff at the Ecosystems Center provided me with extensive support in two key research areas. The first involved an introduction to next-generation sequencing, including bioinformatic data analysis. Additionally, we focused on measuring microbial nitrogen metabolism. The nitrogen cycle mediated by bacteria was intensively discussed with local microbiology experts.

The experience and workflows gained provided new insights into the nitrogen cycle in aquaculture, particularly in the areas of nitrification, anammox, and comammox processes, significantly contributing to ongoing projects and supporting the preparation of new project proposals at FROV JU.

On 30th January 2024, a networking meeting of the LIFE Living Rivers (101069837/LIFE21-IPE-SK-Living Rivers) and LIFE Boat4Sturgeons projects took place at the Bodenkultur Universität (Vienna, Slovakia). The meeting was attended by FROV JU staff Dr. Borek Drozd and Dr. Filip Ložek. At the meeting, the procedures for coordinating work on both projects in 2024 were discussed. The sharing of data resulting from both projects in the European context was also discussed.

RNDr. Bořek Drozd, Ph.D.

On the 23. 05 2023 a kick-off meeting of the integrated LIFE project "Implementation of the river basin management plan in selected river sub-basins in Slovakia - Living Rivers" took place in Bratislava. This project is solved in the years 2023-2032 and coordinated by the Slovak Research Institute of Water Management. The Living Rivers project will contribute to the implementation of the 3rd Water Plan - Management Plan of the Danube Basin Administrative Area in Slovakia by implementing measures in the Danube, Hron, Ipeľ and Belá river basins.

Bořek Drozd and Martin Šindler took part in the opening ceremony with their presentations, Miloš Burič, Monika Malkusová and Jiří Koleček were also present.

On the 12^th  January 2024, J. Koleček, J. Regenda and Ch. A. Steinbach visited the Bavarian Fachberatung für Fischerei in Lindbergmühle. The subject of the meeting was the consultation of the content and form of the joint application to the INTERREG program. The joint project application will be processed by the FROV JU/CENAKVA coordination team and will be submitted as part of the ongoing call.

On days 10-14 In July, I visited Italian Gen-Tech company as part of the Erasmus + program. The company deals with fisheries services and is partly owned by the University of Parma. The content of the internship was to get to know the commercial processes within the Gen-Tech company.

In partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the united Nations (FAO), the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment, South Africa, our faculty (represented by Assoc. Prof. Jan Mráz and Folorunso Ewumi Azeez (MSc.)) was invited to help in developing aquaponics model for a government-own research institute, the Aquaculture Technology Demonstration Centre (ATDC). Our faculty was invited based on our expertise in the field of freshwater aquaculture, specifically aquaponics, and an opportunity for fruitful exchange. In a 6-days workshop/training, we, along with the FAO representative assessed the major aquaponics variables that would determine a successful South African modeled aquaponics considering her climates, market and economy. Along with the trainings, we fostered a likely future collaboration, that would produce prominent research studies and exchange of students.

From 10th November to 12th December 2021, I conducted a business trip to Spain, CENTRO IFAPA AGUA DEL PINO, Cartaya, Huelva focused on the use of PLGA microparticles with mGnRHa in the artificial reproduction of marine fish species. 

Author: Mgr. Peter Podhorec, Ph.D.

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.

As part of the LIFE "Living Rivers" project, we carried out chemical monitoring to determine the pollution level on the Slovak rivers Ipeľ and Hron on two dates, 24-28 June. and 8.-10.7. 2024. Both rivers were sampled along the entire length of the stream using passive samplers placed for 14 days. The monitoring continued the previous activity, increasing knowledge about the concentration and composition of xenobiotic substances in water, information about their sources, and possible steps to improve the situation.

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.