杏吧视频 chosen as U.S. partner for EU-funded aquaculture project
The University of New England (杏吧视频) has been chosen as the United States representative to the AquaVitae Consortium, a new international research and industry enterprise formed to accelerate the development, education and communication of sustainable low-trophic aquaculture in the nations bordering the Atlantic Ocean. 杏吧视频 joins 35 other partners in this European Commission funded project.
The Horizon 2020 program, an effort to drive economic development through an emphasis on science, leadership and sustainability, is funding the 8 million Euro ($8.9M) project. Over the next four years, they will work to increase aquaculture production of low-trophic species (which are species that are low on the food chain) in 16 different countries, spread across four continents. In addition to Europe, partners are situated in countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean including Brazil, South Africa, Namibia and in North America.
鲍狈贰鈥檚 School of Marine Programs and 杏吧视频 NORTH 鈥 The Institute for North Atlantic Studies will play key roles in developing training and education pathways to support the region鈥檚 growing aquaculture ecosystems. 杏吧视频 is partnering with NOFIMA - the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research - to fund travel to partner institutions, collaborate in research and develop best practices.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an exciting challenge to bring together industry and research partners from across the length and breadth of the Atlantic to address relevant societal challenges,鈥 says Project Coordinator Philip James.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tremendous honor to be the only U.S. institution in the consortium,鈥 says Barry Costa-Pierce, executive director of 杏吧视频 NORTH. 鈥淔or 杏吧视频 faculty and students, AquaVitae provides information and interactions with 35 consortium partners in higher education, national research institutes and industries involved in a wide range of aquaculture disciplines such as hatchery production, processing, resource management, economics, environmental monitoring, product development, marketing and consumer behavior.鈥
Read more from the , , , , and .
Aquaculture value chains
The project鈥檚 purpose is to introduce new low-trophic species, products and processes in marine aquaculture value chains across the Atlantic. The five chosen value chains include macroalgae, Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), echinoderm species (e.g. sea urchins), shellfish and finfish. IMTA is a process that farms several species together using waste from one species as feed for another.
According to Maine鈥檚 Department of Marine Resources, there were 672 aquaculture leases covering nearly 800 acres along the coast in 2018 with a total harvest value of $71.75M. 鈥淚n addition, new land-based RAS systems for salmon have been proposed with total investments exceeding $500M,鈥 says Costa-Pierce.
鈥淭he value chains were selected because of their promising contributions to sustainable food and feed production. There is a lot of potential in these value chains and we wish to discover new ways to improve them,鈥 says James.
This correlates with recommendations made in the , which highlighted the need to expand low- and multi-trophic marine aquaculture as an ecologically efficient source of increasing food and feed.
Cross-cutting activities
To complete the objectives, 11 case studies will be conducted across the Atlantic, with emphasis on developing new products from low-trophic species (e.g. macroalgae and sea urchins), optimizing production in existing industries (e.g. shellfish and finfish) and moving towards zero waste and a circular economy in aquaculture (e.g. IMTA and Biofloc).
Some of the cross-cutting activities involve research into biosensors, Internet of Things (IoT), product characteristics, market potential, sustainability, environmental monitoring, as well as conducting risk assessments, analyses of value chains, studying profitability and the legal framework.
Furthermore, the project will implement a multi-actor approach to ensure stakeholder involvement in all phases of the project. Companies act as partners of the consortium together with research institutes and universities, which will also help to establish a durable aquaculture industry and research network around the Atlantic Ocean