Seafood harvest of the world (SJA1504)

Yfirlit

Where do the world's fish come from — and where are they headed? This master's-level course takes students on a tour of global fisheries and aquaculture: the history, the species, the consumers. From ancient fishing traditions to modern fish farming, from regional fleets to global seafood markets, students gain a comprehensive understanding of one of the world's most important and most pressured food systems.

The course is equivalent to 4 ECTS.

Fyrirkomulag fjarnáms

The course is available entirely online, and all the reading material will be on the course Canvas site. The student should have some prior knowledge of fisheries.

Efnisskrá

The course offers a detailed overview on the history of global fisheries, the main global fisheries, seafood and flow of global seafood products. The course will also examine the growing impact that it has been having on making the seafood marketplace more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. Other related topics are traceability, product certification and certification of origin. Supply of seafood products and demographics. Fisheries and aquaculture by continent and major fishing nations. Processing methods and products from fisheries and aquaculture. Globalization and international companies in fisheries. The modern industrial fisheries vs fisheries in the developing world.

On completion of this course, learners will be able to:

• Discuss the economically most important aquatic organisms in the world.

• Access data on global catch and markets, process and analyse the data in a spreadsheet.

• Gather information and analyse the current stock status and landings of the most important commercial species.

• Contrast and critically analyse the trends in marine utilization (overall value chain) in each region.

• Collaborate efficiently in an international group in an online environment

All seminars will be available on-site, live on Zoom, and as recordings for streaming or download during the semester.
Evaluation will be based on project work (no exam). An extensive independent project, a seminar on a scientific article, and a report from group work. In the independent project, the learner must analyse data and compare the development and the current situation of fisheries in a selected country within a global context. The independent project shall return as a scientific thesis. The topic of the group project shall be on a fishery and fish farming in a selected region. A final grade is given on the scale of 0-10.

Inntökuskilyrði

The course is taught through University of Akureyri and is at the master's level. The course is open for auditing by anyone, but formal grades are only given to registered students.

Dagskrá

The course runs from January 11 to April 15, 2027, for a total of 15 weeks, including holiday breaks.

Two seminars will be held each week. Further details on dates and times will be provided later.