The offer of transnational access to the 39 AQUAEXCEL2020 Research Infrastructures has resulted in 179 user applications of which 136 were approved. 28 projects have already published their results in a scientific journal and twenty-nine projects have given conference or workshop presentations.
AQUAEXCEL2020 has established an Industry-Research Advisory Panel (IRAP) to maximize new knowledge translation into innovation by selecting the most impactful project outputs. The IRAP identified 27 high potential outputs for which catalogues have been developed. 11 of those were presented at 2 industry brokerage events in Dubrovnik and Berlin, 4 more have been presented in webinars attended by 280 aquaculture stakeholders, and 8 industry-focused video presentations were made available on the project website.Interaction with ELIXIR resulted in case study recommendations for data archiving design and implementation. Data on salmon, trout and seabass lines and experiments are now available on the “Digital Fish”. A new version of the Fish and Chips tool for analyzing gene expression data was developed and made available online. A list of 15 protocols on cryobanking practices from 13 species were collected and uploaded to the repository. We supported integration and harmonization of access to European Aquaculture Research Infrastructure (RIs) resources by developing and maintaining a One-Stop-Access Online Portal and general website which communicates the project and its results and provides a comprehensive inventory of aquaculture RIs in Europe (143 registered infrastructures). We trained 517 aquaculture researchers and industry stakeholders by organizing 9 training courses (6 face-to-face, 3 online) on timely aquaculture topics. Promotion of project results was also made on Twitter with 1249 followers.A Virtual Laboratory (VL) framework has been implemented and validated. It contains 3 interconnected sub-models that, through a web-interface
https://ae2020virtuallab.sintef.no/(si apre in una nuova finestra) can be used to study various properties of experiments in aquaculture. The AquaFishDEB model simulates the growth, feed consumption and waste production for Atlantic salmon, gilthead seabream and rainbow trout. The water quality module uses input from the experimental plan, waste production by the fish and system characteristics, and has as output the water quality in the system, in the form of ammonia, nitrate, solids and O2. The hydrodynamic module represents flow field and currents in tanks and cages. We investigated how experimental fish should be treated in order to secure fish welfare and quality in experiments. Results show that experimental fish treatment protocols have different effects between species and life stages, and adaptation time after transfer may greatly vary. Importantly, we showed that treatment in early life stages (especially hypoxia) does affect performance later in life. Euthanizing fish prior to onset of clinical signs of disease, and measuring the virus load by titration is a promising alternative humane end point to avoid suffering in viral challenges.In order to perform high quality experiments, we produced, characterized and preserved fish experimental lines that can help to produce the required knowledge in the most relevant and efficient way possible, in sea bass, Atlantic salmon, carp and rainbow trout. Isogenic lines, that allow to disentangle genetic and environmental components of trait variability, constitute an especially relevant tool. Methods to establish such lines and control their genomic status were implemented and new lines were produced. A small biosensor device, AEFishBIT, has been designed and produced for monitoring fish behaviour and physiological traits in stand-alone mode.AEFishBIT has been functionally validated in free-swimming sea bream, sea bass and salmon, and promoted in scientific articles, communications, brokerage events and videos (
https://vimeo.com/325943543(si apre in una nuova finestra)).The project management ensured smooth operation and some reorientation to face biological difficulties with unsuccessful experiments, reallocation of the TNA offer to better match user requirement and to mitigate the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
