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According to the European Union, the aquaculture sector will be the driving force behind ensuring the food of the future. (EU Aquaculture: State of Play - Anne Altmayer; Samy Chahri Members' Research Service PE 762.336 - June 2024)

Fisheries are increasingly in crisis due to several factors, including declining fish stocks, pollution, climate change, and the presence of alien species. For this reason, the fish and bivalve mollusc production sectors will increasingly turn to farmed products to cope with the now well-defined decline of the fishing fleet. However, to play a key role in the food of the future, the aquaculture sector must evolve, particularly the bivalve mollusc sector.

Workers and entrepreneurs must be trained on the various issues affecting the sector, such as the diversification of farmed species, the use of new, increasingly efficient and environmentally sustainable farming techniques, the use of new technologies such as sensors or satellites, obtaining certifications, and raising awareness of the ecosystem services provided. All this can be achieved through training courses designed by industry experts and also through the exchange of best practices between countries.

Very often, bivalve farmers have little or no knowledge of the sector in other European countries, especially regarding the farming techniques used, the species farmed, and the certifications available. They are well-versed in their local situation but lack an overall, European vision of the bivalve aquaculture sector.

Having this broad vision is becoming increasingly important, however, also due to the increasing exchange of products between farmers in different countries, whether simply linked to the supply of juvenile fish or forced by climate change (the movement of farmed products from warmer to colder seas).

In any case, training bivalve farmers requires tutors, mentors, and teachers. These professionals must be aware of the characteristics of the bivalve farming sector at the local and European levels, and must also be familiar with the new training tools offered online, which could be well-suited to the needs of the sector, characterized by workers often working at sea and with little time available for in-person training.

Among the new tools related to online training and new "digital mentors" are platforms for delivering courses, those for organizing online meetings, and tools for sharing data and documents, such as Google Drive.

In addition, concepts related to new training techniques, e-learning, virtual reality, and gamification should be highlighted.

It is with this in mind that the OPTIMA project has decided to implement, as its first project outcome, a training program for mentors working in the bivalve mollusc aquaculture sector. The mentor training program will focus primarily on new distance learning and teaching techniques to ensure that the sector's workforce receives high-quality training using this new approach that breaks down barriers of time and space. Secondly, the program will address the pedagogy associated with this type of distance learning methodology.