Kick-off event: Vision development aquaculture and decommissioning offshore wind farms

Aquaculture at sea and the decommissioning of offshore wind farms come with a lot of opportunities and challenges.

In the Belgian part of the North Sea, a lot of action is already being taken in these areas. The federal government would like to align and consolidate these initiatives into an integrated vision. Specific attention will be paid to sustainable blue growth within the framework of protecting and restoring the marine environment and marine biodiversity.

The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Marine Environment Department of the Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment will guide this process.To this end, two separate trajectories will be launched, both with a kick-off on Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bruges.

  • In the morning, the track on aquaculture will begin.
  • In the afternoon, the track on wind farm decommissioning will start.

In order to arrive at a widely supported vision, we would like to involve all stakeholders, to hear, from the start, as many different opinions as possible of this interactive collaboration!

  • What opportunities do you see?
  • What concerns do you have?
  • What aspects should be taken into account?
  • What additional scientific information is still required?

Together we will spend the next six months developing in a transparent manner a vision for aquaculture on the one hand and wind farm decommissioning on the other, in the Belgian part of the North Sea. With this information, policy makers can then continue their work.

During this event every participant can speak his/her/their language of choice (NL/FR/ENG). However, no simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Register through this link.

When?
Tuesday 18 October 2022

Where?
Radisson Blu Hotel, Frank Van Ackerpromenade 17, 8000 Bruges

Programme

8:45 a.m. – reception with coffee

9 a.m. – welcome

PART AQUACULTURE

9:10 a.m. introduction by Sophie Mirgaux, Marine Environment Service (FPS Health)
9:20 a.m. – plan of action by Steven Degraer, Marine Ecology and Management (MARECO)
9:30 a.m. – interactive roundtable discussions – aquaculture
10:45 a.m. – coffee break
11 a.m.– continued interactive roundtables – aquaculture

12h30 p.m. – 1.30 p.m. – lunch

PART DECOMMISSIONING WIND FARMS

1.30 p.m.– introduction by Sophie Mirgaux, Marine Environment Service (FPS Health)
1.40 p.m.  plan of approach by Steven Degraer, Marine Ecology and Management (MARECO)
1.50 p.m. – interactive roundtable discussions – wind farms decommissioning
3.15 p.m. – coffee break
3.30 p.m. – continued interactive roundtable discussions – wind farms decommissioning

4.45 p.m. – closing reception & networking opportunity