Aquaculture biology and Fisheries ecology Group
At the Aquaculture biology and Fisheries ecology group, led by chairholder Geert Wiegertjes, it is our mission to be leading in academic research and education on sustainable aquaculture and fisheries. Our focus is on socially relevant questions, and on the interactions between aquatic organisms and their environment. We address nutrition and health in aquaculture systems and adaptation of fish and fisheries to changes in the environment.
Research themes
Fisheries research
We study how factors such as fisheries exploitation, climate change, eutrophication and socio-economic environments affect fish communities, and food-web dynamics.
Aquaculture research
We aim to contribute to sustainable, future-proof innovations by studying fish and shellfish nutrition and health in circular aquaculture systems.
Education
Education by Aquaculture biology and Fisheries ecology
We participate in education at BSc, MSc, and PhD level, often closely aligned with our research. Aquaculture and Fisheries contributes to undergraduate teaching in the BSc Animal Sciences and of the BSc Marine Sciences. A large part of our education efforts on aquaculture and fisheries is embedded in the MSc Aquaculture and Marine Resource Management, which aims to train academic professionals in the field of sustainable use, conservation, and restoration of marine and aquatic ecosystems and resources.
Publications & Projects
We contribute to relevant innovations in aquaculture by studying fish and shellfish nutrition and health, preferably in circular aquaculture systems. In our research on fisheries, we analyse how factors such as climate change, eutrophication, and socio-economic environments affect the structure of fish communities, food-web dynamics, and their resilience.
Highlighted publications
- A collaborative research agenda for restoring free-flowing rivers
- A comparison of vertebral preparation techniques for increasing reader precision and agreement in vertebral band pair identification of Northeast Atlantic skates
- A new ecological index for assessing benthic invertebrate assemblages in tropical coral reef ecosystems
Chairholder
Geert Wiegertjes is chair of the Aquaculture biology and Fisheries ecology group. He has a broad interest, from fish immunology to the interaction between fish nutrition and health in aquatic production systems. Wiegertjes underscores the urgent and global need for a sustainable production of (shell)fish products in a world where demands for seafood are rising rapidly. To meet these increased demands, there is a strong need to find bio-inspired solutions.
People of Aquaculture biology and Fisheries ecology
Each chair group of Wageningen University & Research, under leadership of a professor, has its own area of expertise. Meet the people of this Chair Group.
