In continuation of the series of the workshops held in support of the Saud - Dutch cooperation in the field of aquaculture, the second workshop was held on Monday, November 17, 2014 m Crown Plaza Hotel in Jeddah, with respect to the closed aquaculture systems and the cultivation of algae under the name "Opportunities and Challenges for the cultivation of algae and uses of closed aquaculture systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".

The workshop was organized by the Saudi Aquaculture Society, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Dutch Government, and held under the sponsorship and the presence of His Excellency the Deputy Minister for Fisheries Affairs. It was attended by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Aquaculture Society and H.E. the Agricultural Counselor of the Dutch consulate and a number of experts and investors. It was opened by a speech from His Excellency the Deputy Minister for Fisheries Affairs / Engineer Jaber Al Shihri in which he welcomed the Dutch side and reviewed the comprehensive development plan of the aquaculture sector in the Kingdom, and strategic goals set by the government to rapidly develop this sector and progressively transform it into an economically viable industry to contribute to raising aquaculture production to one million tonnes and creating more than 400 000 job opportunities for the Saudi nationals.

HE then raised the importance of cooperation with the Dutch side that possesses the expertise and high technologies in the areas of fisheries and aquaculture, and the MoA hope to strengthen this cooperation and move forward to achieve the desired goals. He added that during the last period, the MoA and a number of investors and stakeholders from both the public and private sectors paid visits to the Dutch side and more than one Saudi delegation visited the Dutch kingdom and looked closely into their successful experiences in the field of aquaculture.

HE also mentioned that this workshop and other previous workshops aim to highlight the importance of closed aquaculture systems and the important benefits obtained by those systems in respect of treatment of waste water, economizing the consumption of water and the limited space used, in addition to the significance of the recent trend to produce algae and the possibility of using algae in the production of fish feed in the future. He added that the concerned authorities in the Kingdom are involved in the preparation of a comprehensive road map of algae production technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Afterwards, HE the Agricultural Counselor of the Dutch consulate in the Kingdom welcomed all attendees and said that his country’s Government is looking forward to develop aspects of cooperation with the Kingdom, especially in the promising field of aquaculture, and stressed that this workshop comes in the context of finding solutions to the challenges and potential obstacles that may face this sector.

Later, the first session, chaired by the Secretary General of the Saudi Aquaculture Society, engineer Ibrahim Al-Mishari, was opened for discussions.

The meeting continued until 17:00 pm in which the lecturers focused on the significance of closed aquaculture systems and the advantages offered by them to the investors in the Kingdom, the prominent developments related to these systems, the challenges and proposed solutions. The meeting also reviewed one of the experiences that support the process of joint cooperation between the two sides and reflected in the establishment of a freshwater farm which the Dutch side started to convert into closed system, and the impressive results achieved in terms of raising the efficiency and increase the production.

Algae and halophytes formed another aspect that has been addressed during the workshop, whereas the Dutch side presented its expertise with different countries and the experiences that they gained in this area. Moreover, experts from King Abdullah University and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology presented some of the experiments and research activities that had been done in the Kingdom.