On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters USB was honored with the visit of Member of the EU Parliament) MEP Ing. Veronika Vrecionová, who mainly focuses on agriculture and the countryside, i.e. areas that have always been related and in which the European Union plays a big role, whether it is setting subsidies or conditions for farming on agricultural land, or nature protection.
Also for this reason, the MEP visited the Institute of Aquaculture and Protection of Waters FFPW USB, where she admired the excellent research infrastructure of our faculty. Our colleague Ing. Pavel Franta took her through the aquaponic greenhouse, where he explained not only the principle of this technology for the efficient and long-term sustainable use of water and nutrients in aquaculture, but also the current scientific direction of the Laboratory of Nutrition and visions for the future.
Aquaponics is a concept combining fish farming and plant cultivation using basic natural processes. Water loaded with fish metabolites is used as a nutrient solution for the production of plants, which clean it with their root system and with the help of bacteria. This sustainable fish and plant production system represents an alternative to conventional agriculture, which currently faces many challenges that need to be resolved in the near future.
The visit to the aquaponics hall took place in a very friendly spirit. Ing. Veronika Vrecionová was already familiar with this production concept, but she was still interested in the local infrastructure. She was interested in fish farming and their welfare, the economic demands of operation and some aspects connected with plant protection using so-called biocontrol.
We are glad we had the opportunity of this pleasant visit and we look forward to a possible future meeting.
