Sea Bass / Sea Bream Fish Farm Tour

Evangelos Kakavoulis – President of the Board of Directors of SparFish S.A. Graduate of the School of Veterinary Medicine, Thesaloniki, Greece MSc Degree in Applied Fish Biology from Plymouth Polytechnic UK Manager of Aqua Vet, a leading company in Greece, which provides pharmaceutics and chemicals for the Greek aquaculture sector.

Petros Doumas – Managing Director of SparFish S.A. Degree in Land Planning from the Metsovion National Polytechnic, Athens, Greece. Diploma in Public Relations Currently, studying for his MBA Manager of an Aquaculture Insurance Agency

SparFish S.A. is based in Korinthiakos Gulf around 120km from Athens. The company has 20 full-time and 10 part-time staff working on the sea bass and sea bream cage farm, and in the modern processing unit. Two of the employees are graduates of the Aquaculture Institute of Mesolonghi, Greece, and have worked for the company for the past six years.

SparFish S.A. was awarded an ISO 9001 certificate in 2000, and has adopted a HACCP system for the processing unit. It is recognised as a state of the art fish farm in the Mediterranean, and uses fully automated systems for fish feeding, grading and processing, thus producing fish of the highest quality standards.

Evangelos and Petros remember the commitment and hard work it took in the early stages of the venture. Whole days were spent trying to make the farm work properly. They are now based in the office in Athens and visit the farm on a weekly basis. A working day on the farm for them involves:

• Checking and regulating procedures and automations
• Checking the well-being and progress of all fish stocks
• Checking the feeding regimes and harvesting programmes
• Training of personnel

The farm welcomes visitors, especially students, on an appointment basis. Several local schools have organised educational visits to the farm, and have acquired scientific information on aquaculture.

Work on the farm is constant; it is always busy with many fish to keep healthy and happy.