Pisces Project - 2003

Coordinator: AquaTT
Start: 31/12/01
Duration: 24 Months
Funding: 75% funded by the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme
Website: www.piscestt.com

The project finished in 2003

Introduction

PISCESTT, was a 2-year European Commission Leonardo da Vinci funded project lead by AquaTT, the European Network for Education and Training, and run in conjunction with;
- Aqualex Multimedia Consortium (AMC) Ltd. (Ireland)
- La Tene Maps Ltd. (Ireland)
- FEAP (Belgium)
- Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain)
- KEK Diastasi (Greece)
- Tender (Italy)
- Fiskeridata (Norway)
- Apriori (Norway)
- Olzstyn University (Poland)

Positioned as a sustainable venture, www.piscestt.com, the free European forum for Aquaculture Education and Training is now host to a comprehensive education database, interactive games for children, dynamic occupational profiles, virtual tours to existing fish farms and major updates in education and training.

The site platform has a multilingual facility with the inbuilt Aqualex glossary of aquaculture and marine science terms thereby catering for a wide spectrum audience. It is an accessible source of information, with all web pages in printer and email friendly format. The site, a resource pool of active information links, is available in Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Polish and Norwegian. The PISCES team welcomes submissions of documents, information, presentations and opinions from interested parties, for dissemination through the forum (email: aquatt@aquatt.ie)

Identified Need

The PISCES Partners have experience in education and strong industry links, collectively providing a view of industry trends. These trends depict declining interest in aquaculture as a career, in the transference of skills from professionals in allied fields and in consumer confidence. The PISCES project endeavours to increase the attractiveness of the industry as a career for young people and those in allied fields, as well as raising the level of awareness and confidence in aquaculture products through accurate and concise information.

P Promotion of vocational and tertiary training to increase the interest in and number of students participating in aquaculture-related courses.

I Information for non-aquaculturists to help curb the negative image created by mass media on the topic of aquaculture. This can be achieved by provision of accurate, concise and up-to-date inforamtion and facts.

S Supporting SMEs by providing them with relevant information and useful tools such as the specifically enhanced and developed Fishing4Info database of contacts and the DELTA Company Audit Tool.

C Careers promotion and provision of details on educational courses should assist in ameliorating the employment and mobility opportunities for the PISCES primary focus groups in European aquaculture: young candidates for vocational training, current students, current workers, conversion candidates, careers advisors, SMEs, government, local authority and planning bodies.

E Education database aims to provide students with options so as to increase transparency and mobility within the industry.

S Shortening the gap between science and its users is related to the dissemination of information. For example, virtual tours in partner languages will enable individuals to wander through the stages involved in farming a species while remaining seated at their desks.

PISCES IMPACT

Improving Public Perception
Aquaculture is constantly receiving hostile media coverage, which affects the public's perception. PISCES will be part of a European-wide campaign against such purely negative press attacks and therefore education through information is essential. It is imperative that accurate, concise information be provided on a transnational level.

Information on Aquaculture for "Non-Experts"
Increasingly, "non-experts" in this field - NGOs, planning officers, local government and civil servants, etc, are making decisions regarding aquaculture. These decision-makers do not have a full understanding of the industry and usually don't have the time to become informed or visit a farm. In PISCES, concise non-technical leaflets and posters on "Hot Topics" in aquaculture will be widely distributed to this target audience. Complementary "Virtual Fish Farm Tours" providing the scientific basics in an informative and enjoyable format will be presented on the PISCES website.

Attracting Students and Staff
It is an undisputed fact that there are not enough aquaculture students in Ireland-a trend that can be seen across Europe. The Directors of AquaTT have recognised this trend and PISCES aims to increase the accessibility of vocational and tertiary training and in turn the number of students participating in such courses. PISCES will offer vocational training opportunities and an online guide to every aquaculture course in Europe. This will provide students with options, transparency and increase mobility in the industry. In addition, career promotion will be a priority-posters will be distributed for schools and employment agencies, online case studies and career profiles will show the potential of a career in the industry and fun interactive web pages for children will all be available on the site.

BUDGET

Total Project Grant = 382,354 Euro
Total Project Budget (with Partner contributions) = 509,805 Euro

PISCES FOCUS:

Site users can search the education database for online, short training, tertiary and vocational courses taking place throughout Europe . To submit information on your institute and/ or courses just carry out the free online registration process or email aquatt@aquatt.ie. Detailed descriptions of education systems for over 20 countries have also been collated.

The PISCES TT Fun Section, with its colourful graphics, engages children in marine science education through a Seahorse quiz, maze, Salmon Ladder board game and downloadable fish wallpaper.

The website provides profiles of different individuals working in the field of aquaculture and related sciences. To gauge interest there is also a series of virtual tours to different species farms operating in Europe. In this scope, together with the clearly identified need for mediation between students, workers and employers in respect to jobs and mobility, the PISCESTT Jobs forum (www.piscesttjobs.com) was developed. It is a free online industry service for employers and job seekers. Registered users can post job vacancies, PhD and Masters opportunities, student placements and in turn, upload CVs and apply online to advertisements of interest to them. The key feature of the service is that only the profile of the advertising company/ institute is published, the contact details are withheld. AquaTT then actively assists in the selection process, only providing the employer with relevant applicants.

PISCES POSTERS

One deliverable of PISCES was a series posters aimed at raising awareness of Aquaculture activities.

Poster Series
-Â Life Cycle of the Salmon
- Life Cycle of Sea Bass and Sea Bream
- Life Cycle of Perch
- Life-cycle of Turbot
- Life-Cycle of Seahorse
- Â Traceability
- Local Area Management
- Waste Management
- Recirculation Technologies
- Careers in Aquaculture

The posters are freely available in hard copy from AquaTT or for free download from the PISCES site.

PISCES NEWS

The free monthly electronic newsletter "Training News" provides information and updates on the changes taking place in the European Education Area, new education and training initiatives, workshops, courses, upcoming events and collaboration taking place.

To subscribe CLICK HERE
To disseminate information through the news service please email news@aquatt.ie