Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NewTechAqua (New Technologies, Tools and Strategies for a Sustainable, Resilient and Innovative European Aquaculture)
Reporting period: 2021-07-01 to 2022-12-31
As the demand for seafood has increased, new technologies have made it possible to grow fish and molluscs in inland and marine waters to avoid putting additional pressure on natural ecosystems: this is how the aquaculture sector is born. Aquaculture is the aquatic equivalent of agriculture. At the contrary of wild-caught fish, caught in their natural environment, fish produced by the aquaculture sector are raised and caught in controlled environments, in inland or coastal waters, or in the ocean. In that sense, aquaculture can be used as a method to produce more fish without endangering existing stocks, but also to restore habitat, replenish wild stocks, and rebuild populations of threatened and endangered species. By 2050, 30% more population which implies an unprecedented challenge: food systems need to substantially increase the production of safe and nutritious food, while reducing the pressure on environmental resources.
The European aquaculture sector has become increasingly important in this context. However, the sector still needs to complete the following objectives to answer tomorrow’s challenges:
o Use sustainable fish feeds
o Increase organic aquaculture production
o Improve available technologies and production systems to increase efficiency
o Increase robustness (disease resistance) and quality of fish and molluscs
o Use fewer chemicals and antibiotics
o Support the diversification of fish species and products
Objectives
The main goal of the NewTechAqua project is to expand and diversify European aquaculture production of finfish, molluscs and microalgae by developing and validating technologically-advances, resilient and sustainable applications.
In that sense, researchers and partners from the NewTechAqua will test and develop new solutions to:
• Deliver solutions to improve fish and mollusc health and disease resistance: prediction models for specific diseases, kits for disease’ detection, new breeding programmes, and new diets.
• Increase the efficiency of aquaculture production systems via real-time management systems, satellite systems, and recommendations.
• Make the aquaculture sector more sustainable and circular through new diets and feed products using fish by-products, fish processing wastewaters, and microalgae, new organic diets using plant proteins to produce more organic fish.
• Support diversification of fish species by studying the reproductive cycle of emerging fish species to re-create the best conditions for raising these new species in aquaculture production systems.
• Develop new eco-friendly fish and molluscs products with high nutritional value
• Raise awareness and train professionals from the aquaculture sector by creating training programmes and conducting studies on consumers’ preferences.
With this new set of solutions, NewTechAqua will demonstrate that investment in sustainable aquaculture research and innovation leads to the creation of new value chains, markets, growth and jobs in coastal, offshore and landlocked areas.
The European aquaculture sector has become increasingly important in this context. However, the sector still needs to complete the following objectives to answer tomorrow’s challenges:
o Use sustainable fish feeds
o Increase organic aquaculture production
o Improve available technologies and production systems to increase efficiency
o Increase robustness (disease resistance) and quality of fish and molluscs
o Use fewer chemicals and antibiotics
o Support the diversification of fish species and products
Objectives
The main goal of the NewTechAqua project is to expand and diversify European aquaculture production of finfish, molluscs and microalgae by developing and validating technologically-advances, resilient and sustainable applications.
In that sense, researchers and partners from the NewTechAqua will test and develop new solutions to:
• Deliver solutions to improve fish and mollusc health and disease resistance: prediction models for specific diseases, kits for disease’ detection, new breeding programmes, and new diets.
• Increase the efficiency of aquaculture production systems via real-time management systems, satellite systems, and recommendations.
• Make the aquaculture sector more sustainable and circular through new diets and feed products using fish by-products, fish processing wastewaters, and microalgae, new organic diets using plant proteins to produce more organic fish.
• Support diversification of fish species by studying the reproductive cycle of emerging fish species to re-create the best conditions for raising these new species in aquaculture production systems.
• Develop new eco-friendly fish and molluscs products with high nutritional value
• Raise awareness and train professionals from the aquaculture sector by creating training programmes and conducting studies on consumers’ preferences.
With this new set of solutions, NewTechAqua will demonstrate that investment in sustainable aquaculture research and innovation leads to the creation of new value chains, markets, growth and jobs in coastal, offshore and landlocked areas.
The NewTechAqua project is organised to develop and demonstrate innovations in 6 different categories of solutions that address the major shortcomings and research areas in the aquaculture sector.
At the 18th month of the project, the main technical results achieved are:
Feeds: most of the innovative formulations in relation to prohealth feeds, zerowaste feeds and organic feeds have been tested at lab level to determine the efficacy and feasibility of the new products which will be tested at field level in the next period of the project
Industry 4.0: all tasks already started and most of the innovations and solutions in terms of precision farming solutions are under now under evaluation for their efficacy.
Genetics: for fish and mollusks addressed in NTA for genetic studies, the families for oyster and European sea bass and the strain of microalgae which will be utilized for the future selections have been seen and decided. On salmon, data for feed efficiency have been already evaluated.
New species: Specifically, in greater amberjack, important acquisitions on reproductive physiology, , produciotn of recombinant gonadotropins hormones and development of a new management software for broostock have been obtained. In meagre, important information on breeding behaviour, information on reproductive process and the production of recombinant gonadotropins have been acquired. In sole, we started to evaluate the impact of social learning and dominance on reproductive output.
New Products: Among the three low energy processing technologies to be explored in NTA, pulsed electric field has been already tested in sea bass fillets whereas For plasma treatment, plasma sources and prototypes have been selected based on the reactive species emission characterization. Functional ingredients from washing wastewaters have been collected and characterized by the techno-functional properties. A conventional process for the recovery of proteins has been tested and will be validated.
To evaluate the impact of all the innovations developed in the project a series of indicators for economic, environmental, social and health impact has been already selected to deep look at specific case studies in the project.
NewTechAqua already started evaluating market opportunities and business potential for the innovation demonstrated in the project. A durable exploitation strategy for each result and design replicable business plans are being structured and shared with the industrial partners of the project consortium.
The partners have been active in dissemination through social media, website and is planning independently and in collaboration with the 3 other project funded under the same call, workshops, training courses and meetings for wider dissemination and communication.
At the 18th month of the project, the main technical results achieved are:
Feeds: most of the innovative formulations in relation to prohealth feeds, zerowaste feeds and organic feeds have been tested at lab level to determine the efficacy and feasibility of the new products which will be tested at field level in the next period of the project
Industry 4.0: all tasks already started and most of the innovations and solutions in terms of precision farming solutions are under now under evaluation for their efficacy.
Genetics: for fish and mollusks addressed in NTA for genetic studies, the families for oyster and European sea bass and the strain of microalgae which will be utilized for the future selections have been seen and decided. On salmon, data for feed efficiency have been already evaluated.
New species: Specifically, in greater amberjack, important acquisitions on reproductive physiology, , produciotn of recombinant gonadotropins hormones and development of a new management software for broostock have been obtained. In meagre, important information on breeding behaviour, information on reproductive process and the production of recombinant gonadotropins have been acquired. In sole, we started to evaluate the impact of social learning and dominance on reproductive output.
New Products: Among the three low energy processing technologies to be explored in NTA, pulsed electric field has been already tested in sea bass fillets whereas For plasma treatment, plasma sources and prototypes have been selected based on the reactive species emission characterization. Functional ingredients from washing wastewaters have been collected and characterized by the techno-functional properties. A conventional process for the recovery of proteins has been tested and will be validated.
To evaluate the impact of all the innovations developed in the project a series of indicators for economic, environmental, social and health impact has been already selected to deep look at specific case studies in the project.
NewTechAqua already started evaluating market opportunities and business potential for the innovation demonstrated in the project. A durable exploitation strategy for each result and design replicable business plans are being structured and shared with the industrial partners of the project consortium.
The partners have been active in dissemination through social media, website and is planning independently and in collaboration with the 3 other project funded under the same call, workshops, training courses and meetings for wider dissemination and communication.
Overall, at the completion of the first 18 months, NewTechAqua is on a good track in reaching all the specific objectives during the project lifetime. Work has started for all major aspects of the project; the activities are progressing well and is expected to give the necessary outputs on time for the business, consumer and exploitation phase of the project.
NewTechAqua will achieve its objectives by developing innovations in 6 different categories of solutions: feed, industry 4.0 sustainable farming, genetics, new species and new products, enabling and increasing a more sustainable and resilient European aquaculture
Application potentials will be explored in close collaboration between the multi-disciplinary RTD partners and the small, medium and large companies within the consortium. NewTechAqua will utilise the combined strength and expertise of the RTD, business and market partners, as well as those of stakeholders to develop resilient and sustainable innovations. A set of 8 envinronmental, 8 microeconomic, 3 macroeconomic, 7 social and 4 health indicators has been selected to evaluate in deep the impact of the most important case studies in the project, which combine the most significant technological solutions developed.
NewTechAqua will achieve its objectives by developing innovations in 6 different categories of solutions: feed, industry 4.0 sustainable farming, genetics, new species and new products, enabling and increasing a more sustainable and resilient European aquaculture
Application potentials will be explored in close collaboration between the multi-disciplinary RTD partners and the small, medium and large companies within the consortium. NewTechAqua will utilise the combined strength and expertise of the RTD, business and market partners, as well as those of stakeholders to develop resilient and sustainable innovations. A set of 8 envinronmental, 8 microeconomic, 3 macroeconomic, 7 social and 4 health indicators has been selected to evaluate in deep the impact of the most important case studies in the project, which combine the most significant technological solutions developed.