Project aims to enhance marine fishery industry in Albania through several tasks: 1) development of new professional master degree in marine fishery that will meet market needs, 2) enhancement of collaboration among Blue Growth stakeholders by developing networking platform, and 3) improvement of maritime training centres which provide professional trainings to seafarers operating on fishing vessels.The new curriculum in marine fishery will be developed through collaboration of scientific experts and marine industry stakeholders. Curriculum will provide students with theoretical knowledge and practical skills that are required by the labour market needs, which will have a positive impact on employability of students and matching of the labour market demand.Furthermore, the new curriculum will offer more practice oriented opportunities, contributing to university-enterprise cooperation, opening door to new research opportunities and knowledge exchange among industry stakeholders and academics. The creation of the networking platform that will unite all stakeholders active in marine fishery field, education institutions, graduated students, private companies and organizations, will further contribute to that since it will provide the stakeholders with opportunities for new partnerships, exchange know-how, access to up-to-date market information, qualified staff and/or employment opportunities.Improving the maritime training centre for professional seafarers operating on fishing vessels allows us to penetrate and shape the marine fishery industry from another angle which is the field of exploitation and fishing. Currently training centres are not in accordance with IMO standards and the requirements of EU legislation. Developing new courses for professional seafarers would have positive impact on environment protection, decrease in safety hazards, at the same time improving fishing and exploitation efficiency and international collaboration opportunities.

The DEFEND consortium will target two viral diseases of livestock which are emerging into Europe – African swine fever (ASF) and lumpy skin disease (LSD). African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the causative agent of ASF, a highly contagious disease of domestic pigs which causes a haemorrhagic syndrome with up to 100% mortality. ASF is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and on the Italian island of Sardinia. In 2007 the disease was reported in Georgia. Since then it has spread to Russia, Ukraine, Poland and neighbouring countries. In 2017 outbreaks were reported in the Czech Republic and Romania. Wild boar are susceptible to ASFV and facilitate the continuing spread of the disease in Europe with regular spill-over into in-contact domestic pigs. The capripoxvirus Lumpy Skin Disease virus (LSDV) causes a classic systemic poxvirus disease in cattle and spreads rapidly in warm humid conditions, most likely due to insect-borne transmission. LSDV entered Europe, the Balkans and Caucasus for the first time in 2015. The ongoing epidemic has caused the deaths of thousands of cattle through mortality and eradication campaigns. ASFV and LSDV represent an immediate and serious threat to the pig and cattle industries in Europe and eastern and central Asia. The aim of the consortium is to control the growing LSD and ASF epidemics in Europe and neighbouring countries by understanding the drivers of LSDV and ASFV emergence, and generating research outputs which underpin novel diagnostic tools and vaccines and authenticate appropriate and rapid responses by decision-makers. A multi-actor approach will be incorporated as a central tenant of the project, with collaborations between experts from academia, industry, and government bodies including EU and non-EU partners from countries affected or threatened by ASF and LSD.