Conferences with current topics and excellent speakers will also be an important element of HavExpo as a meeting place in 2026. We always work on topics that engage everyone from the boardroom to the edge of the cage, and that can provide both valuable information and new knowledge.
Over the two days of the fair, we offer over 100 lectures. Participation in the conference is included in the entrance ticket to HavExpo.
Among the topics you will find battery regulation for aquaculture vessels, climate requirements for Norwegian aquaculture vessels, biosecurity in practice, deep operation, closed production at sea, Norwegian fisheries in a historical perspective and much more.
The conference chair is Tormod Løvoll.
In Hall A at stands 810 – 818, the University of Bergen, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, the Directorate of Fisheries, the Institute of Marine Research and NORCE present the Knowledge Square. At the Knowledge Square, you will be served relevant and exciting professional seminars from a number of renowned knowledge providers.
Program for the Knowledge Square:
Tuesday, May 5:
12.00 – 12.05: Official opening of the Knowledge Square by Jon Askeland, County Mayor of Vestland and Fisheries Director Frank Bakke-Jensen.
12.30 – 13.15: Seminar: Area of desire
Moderator: Marie Hauge, Institute of Marine Research
- Coexistence when the coast is full / Directorate of Fisheries
- What happens if we continue with the current location structure? / Mattilsynet
- Aquaculture Promotion: Pilot area in PO4 / Geir Lasse Taranger, Institute of Marine Research
- From red to green / The County Municipality by Bernt Gunnar Næss
- The role of the county municipality in spatial planning in the sea – PhD candidate Synne Cecilie Tallaksen Bue
14.00 – 14.45: Seminar: Cod farming – here to grow?
Moderator: Olav Lekve, Directorate of Fisheries
- Spawning in cages: What is the problem? (Directorate of Fisheries)
- Farmed cod: escape and spawning in cages (Mari Skuggedal Myksvoll, Institute of Marine Research)
- Health, welfare and mortality (Norwegian Food Safety Authority)
- Will cod lice become a problem? (UiB)
- Falk D. Øveraas, community relations officer Ode, in conversation with moderator Olav Lekve
Wednesday, May 6
10.30 – 11.30: Seminar: New methods for better fish health and sustainability
Moderator: Frank Nilsen, UiB
- Kidney stones in salmonids (Tom Ole Nilsen, UiB)
- Development of mRNA vaccines for salmon (Gyri Teien Haugland, UiB)
- Better biological data for modeling the spread of infectious agents (Søren Grove, HI)
- Spread modeling – from lab to probability of infection (Håvard Frøysa, HI)
- Brain2Gut: Development of a 3R-based pipeline for testing novel feed ingredients in salmon aquaculture (Pradeep Lal, NORCE)
- GillAlert: A novel tool for gill health management (Simon Menanteau-Ledouble, NORCE)
- From Data to Application: Harnessing the Salmon Microbiome as a Tool for Sustainable Aquaculture (Neda Gilannejad, NORCE)
14.00 – 15.00: Gain insight into a brand new project – and contribute your knowledge: Researchers combine biology with law in the pursuit of lower environmental impact
In the interdisciplinary RIFT project, researchers from the Faculty of Law (UiB) and the Institute of Marine Research are looking at the impact of the Regulations on different forms of operation and the introduction of new technology in the aquaculture industry.
- With knowledge of law and biology, the researchers will focus on how legal principles and rules can help promote innovation and technological development in the aquaculture industry within reasonable considerations of biosafety, animal welfare and environmental impact.
- At the meeting you will receive a brief presentation of the project, after which the researchers will seek input from the public on what they would like to see within this topic.
- The meeting is chaired by Monica Solberg (HI) and Ingunn Elise Myklebust (UiB).
