7.1.1 The Universities of the Aegean, Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras and Crete all have biology departments and run both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. With the exception of the University of the Aegean, they all express interest in aquaculture research and demonstration facilities.
7.1.2 The University of Thessaloniki has drafted a proposal for a course in aquaculture to be included as an optional subject in its undergraduate course. The course would consist of 24 lectures over a 12 week period.
7.1.3 The University of Crete, through its recently created Institute of Marine Biology, plans a major involvement in aquaculture. It is to have an establishment of 25 technicians and researchers and will have departments of Marine Biology, Fisheries and Aquaculture. Functions will include technical assistance and external relations and it is proposed that these be run on commercial lines. Initial staff appointments have been scientists of Greek origin with research and teaching experience in other countries. Research, development and extension projects have already been identified and early progress is good.
7.1.4 Other postgraduate training is provided in Athens by the Centre for the Promotion of Productivity. Courses of 7–8 months, at a theoretical level, are given by specialist staff contracted from other organizations. Forty to fifty students attend each year.
7.1.5 The Department of Applied Hydrobiology at the Agricultural University College of Athens runs an 18-month optional course in aquaculture as part of its graduate course in agriculture.
The course, which began in 1977, has both theoretical and practical content and engineering and economic aspects of aquaculture are included. Fifteen to twenty students per year take this course and, despite their ineligibility for employment as ‘ichthyologists’ 'in government services, a 25% success rate in job placement, mainly in the private sector, has been achieved. In 1988 the department will have its first intake of students for a masters-level, 2-year course in aquaculture for employees of the Agricultural Bank.
7.2.1 The major centre for technical training is at the Messolonghi Technical College where a 3-year course is provided to an intake of approximately 120 students each year. The course appears comprehensive with instruction in physics, chemistry, maths, english, biology, marine and freshwater biology, aquaculture of marine and freshwater species, fish processing, quality control, fisheries legislation, etc.
It is clear that there is a lack of practical training in the course and that the numbers are very much greater than the industry's capacity to absorb.
Teaching is dependent mainly on the use of part-time staff.
7.2.2 At the practical level, some short courses have been provided by PASEGES and the Organization for the Employment of Unemployed Workers. Also, two schools of horticulture - one in Athens and one in Thessaloniki - have recently begun courses in freshwater aquaculture.
7.2.3 Other courses include training provided by the Agricultural Bank for its own staff. The Bank has also trained ten young people in preparation for investment in their own projects.
Recently EETAA has set up a 3-month course for managers of cooperative and local authority projects.
7.2.4 Resources not currently used for training in aquaculture but with the potential for such use include the network of Centres for Agricultural Education which normally provide short, practical level instruction in agriculture. State hatcheries could also be used for practical and higher level training. Staff at Louros freshwater hatchery have recently proposed such a development.
7.3.1 Both training of specialists and researchers in specialist areas, such as marine hatchery technology and fish pathology, is conducted through foreign visits and the contracting of foreign experts.
7.3.2 A higher priority should be given to the training visits for producers and those working closely with them.
7.4.1 The main comment to be offered on current training provision concerns the degree of practical content and the numbers of trainees vis-à-vis the size of the industry.
A higher priority needs to be given to practical aspects of aquaculture if training is to be effective.
The number of students at Messolonghi is completely out of step with the rate of growth of the industry. This results in students not finding employment and a lack of credibility within the industry and community generally. Fish farms will not be keen to employ students from a course which they see as lacking practical relevance. The numbers on this course should be reduced and set at a level which relates closely to the short-term projections for job opportunities within the industry.
This principle should be applied to all courses and procedures for assessing the success in subsequent job placement should be set up.
7.4.2 The basic strategy currently being implemented by the Institute of Marine Biology in Crete, in its comprehensiveness, with its awareness of the need to have good external relations, and with its aim of building up capacity in both high and low levels of technology, can be regarded as a model approach towards the provision of education, training and extension. At the very least, Crete can act as a centre for island, if not national, aquaculture development in Greece.
Close links with local authorities and their agency, EETAA, was recommended.
7.4.3 The Agricultural University College of Athens is the only institution with a significant track record in undergraduate education and training in aquaculture. The breadth of subject matter and level of applied, practical content make it particularly suited to the current aquaculture development needs of Greece.
7.5.1 There is widespread interest in the provision of graduate and postgraduate education in aquaculture. Important developments at this level are taking place at the Institute of Marine Biology in Crete.
The main technical training is conducted at Messolonghi but there are too many being trained and practical content is lacking.
Practical training, including the use of exchange visits for producers, should be expanded and given a higher priority.
