Sunderland Marine Trophy Awarded to Aquaculture Graduates

First presented in 2019, the Sunderland Marine Trophy is awarded to the Best Overall Performance on the BSc (Hons) Aquaculture and Fishery Management Course. Sunderland Marine also supports the college’s angling lake where students are taught practical fishery management and conservation skills.

Aquaculture Manager, Duncan Perrin, is a guest lecturer at Sparsholt College providing mentoring and insight into the world of global aquaculture as well as sitting on the panel to assess student business plans. “Sparsholt continues to produce exceptional staff for the aquaculture industry both in the UK and beyond.” said Perrin. “Academic study is combined with practical skills training and industry placements to enable students to be as prepared as they can be for careers in aquaculture and fishery management”.

Calum Smethurst has been awarded the Sunderland Marine trophy for Best Overall Performance in 2021 and was presented with the trophy in the graduation ceremony in November, held at Winchester Cathedral. Smethurst said, “I chose to study at Sparsholt after undertaking a work placement at the Environment Agency’s National Fish Farm, Calverton. While there, I spoke to several members of staff and they recommended attending University Centre Sparsholt for my BSc. After visiting for an open day, I was impressed by the facilities and felt welcomed by the fisheries lecturers so decided this was where I wanted to continue my studies.

“After a very difficult final year due to the pandemic, I was able to achieve my own personal target of First-Class Honours. Receiving the Sunderland Marine Award has further highlighted that all of the hard work and time given were more than worth it”.

In 2020, the graduation ceremonies were unable to go ahead in person due to Covid-19 restrictions so the winner of the 2020 award, Henry Beattie, only received his trophy this year after gaining further work experience and education.

“Immediately after finishing my course I worked for a summer at Bowlake ornamental fish farm before studying an MRes in novel protein sources for rainbow trout nutrition, which I started in October 2020 at the University of Portsmouth. This MRes has been sponsored by Skretting France, a connection which was only available to me because of the BSc at Sparsholt. I chose to study at Sparsholt because I had the realisation that I didn’t enjoy conventional study and that a more practical degree from a smaller university would be much better suited to me. Once I was on the course I quickly realised that I’d found a line of study that had captured my interest. The Sunderland Marine Award was a very pleasant surprise and gave me a sense of validation in my choice of degree.” commented Beattie.

Duncan and all at Sunderland Marine would like to congratulate all the graduates of Sparsholt College for their hard work and wish them all the best for their futures in the industry.