From 28 September to 1 October 2026, Ljubljana hosted Aquaculture Europe 2026 (AE2026), the annual conference of the European Aquaculture Society. This year’s theme was “Aquaculture in Global Change”, and the Society also marked its 50th anniversary.
For ULTFARMS, AE2026 had a special meaning: it was the project’s last conference. After four years of farming mussels, oysters and seaweed in offshore wind farms, the ULTFARMS team came to Ljubljana to share the lessons learned, both at a shared stand throughout the conference and in a dedicated conference session on the final day.
Four years of offshore farming at stand 176
Throughout the conference, ULTFARMS was present at stand 176, the SUBMARINER Network booth. The stand was shared with four fellow EU projects: Rootlinks, FOODIMAR, AlgaeProBANOS and EU4Algae.
The ULTFARMS part of the stand presented lessons from four years of farming mussels, oysters and seaweed in offshore wind farms. It gave the team the chance to talk directly with researchers, producers, offshore wind operators and policy makers about what works at sea, what does not yet, and what is needed to move from pilots to commercial farms.
Seven presentations in the Offshore & Multi-Use session
On 1 October, the final day of the conference, ULTFARMS partners presented in the Offshore & Multi-Use session. The session was chaired by Deltares, the ULTFARMS project coordinator. Researchers from Deltares, Ghent University, Wageningen University & Research and DTU Aqua gave seven presentations:
- Mussel farming in a Dutch offshore wind farm (Wageningen University & Research)
- Low-trophic aquaculture in offshore wind farms (DTU Aqua)
- Modelling aquaculture in offshore wind under climate change (Deltares)
- Nature-inclusive design in marine infrastructure (Deltares)
- A roadmap for upscaling, based on ULTFARMS insights (Deltares)
- How biomass affects forces on a seaweed cultivation net (Ghent University)
Together, the presentations covered the full scope of the project: pilot results from the North and Baltic Seas, climate modelling, nature-inclusive design and the pathway to upscaling.
Closing the circle in Ljubljana
The conference theme, “Aquaculture in Global Change”, matched the questions ULTFARMS has worked on since 2023: how low-trophic aquaculture can share space with offshore wind, and how it can stay viable as sea conditions change. Presenting the results to the European aquaculture community at its last conference was a fitting way for the project to close this chapter.
ULTFARMS is coming to an end, but its results remain available for future research to build on. You can explore our deliverables and innovations, as well as the roadmap for upscaling sets out how offshore multi-use can move from pilots to practice.
Thank you to the European Aquaculture Society for hosting AE2026 and to the SUBMARINER Network for sharing its stand with us. Thanks also to our stand neighbours Rootlinks, FOODIMAR, AlgaeProBANOS and EU4Algae, and to our sister project OLAMUR, for four inspiring days of exchange and new connections at our last conference as a project.
