OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENTS
This proposal provides a new and systematic approach to improving the rearing conditions of larval turbot and halibut by using biological, non-antibiotic dependent measures of disease control. The results will be transferable to many other larval rearing systems in aquaculture.

The objectives of the work are to:
* bring together 6 partners in one team to pursue, interactively, four different approaches to the application of probiotics (bacteria which are beneficial to health by preventing the harmful effects of certain other disease-causing microorganisms) in flatfish larval rearing.
* provide large numbers of bacterial isolates, from a range of sources potentially suitable for use as probiotics of larval flatfish, and thereby improve larval survival and health.
* screen the above bacteria using in vitro tests to identify those suitable for use as probiotics.