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Development of a novel production system for intensive and cost effective bivalve farming

Final Report Summary - SHELLPLANT (Development of a novel production system for intensive and cost effective bivalve farming)

Executive summary:

The SHELLPLANT project was initiated 1 January 2010 and was terminated 1 January 2012. The consortium consisted of 7 beneficiaries including Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)s and Research and technological development (RTD) performers.

1. Bioframe AS (SME, coordinator), Norway
2. Pladomin S.A. (SME), Spain
3. Varicon Aqua Solutions Ltd. (SME), United Kingdom
4. Tinamenor S.L. (SME), Spain
5. Teknologisk Institutt as (RTD), Norway
6. Swansea University (RTD), United Kingdom
7. Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos - Instituto Português de Investigação das Pescas e do Mar, (RTD), Portugal

SHELLPLANT is a closed or semi-closed aquaculture system that is developed primarily for intensive farming of bivalves. The bivalves are reared in purpose designed trays, enclosed from the surrounding environment. This gives the farmer more control of stock, water flow and feed distribution, and prevents predators' access to the bivalves. When natural feed availability in the sea is low, microalgae can be produced (e.g. in the BioFence photo-bioreactor) and fed to the bivalves. Construction of a complete SHELLPLANT farm is expected after project completion.

The SHELLPLANT system will be able to contribute with a significant increase to the profit in the bivalve sector due to:

- increased production in the farming construction by 10 % due to optimised temperature and feeding requirements;
- reduce the labour for tending by developing new technology and a more efficient method;
- reduced production waste/ rejected products, from an average of 35 % to less than 15 %.

Project context and objectives:

The SHELLPLANT system is the only system that enables environmental control for the farming of bivalve molluscs. The system controls factors like temperature, algae supply and prevent the intake of toxic algae, creating an environment where the shellfish grow at an optimal rate. In turn, creating a much higher yearly yield of good quality, healthy shellfish, due to decreased mortality and increased growth. The development of the SHELLPLANT system will improve the level of control shellfish farmers are able to have over their farmed stock. A fundamental part of this control will be achieved by designing a farm system that prevents the animals from escaping or from being consumed by predators. In addition to this, the SHELLPLANT system will provide the farmer with control of feed distribution, water flow, and also allow manipulation of the water temperature. The main benefit from this is increase of the bivalves' growth rate. However, faster growth may only be accomplished if there are also adequate amounts of feed available. SHELLPLANT project is therefore also optimising algae culture methods to be able to feed the bivalves.

Project Results:

Main achievements in the SHELLPLANT project includes:

- Background for the SHELLPLANT rearing system is presented in D1.1 and technical drawings and system specifications are well documented and are supplied in the reports D3.1 D3.2 D4.1 and D4.2 for the SHELLPLANT rearing system.
- Background on the BioFence tubular photo-bioreactor is presented in D1.2 and the system has been tested through a series of trials that are well documented in D2.1 and D2.2.
- Standard operating procedure (SOP)s designed to guide a systematic approach to operating the BioFence are presented in D2.4.
- Economic analyses on the BioFence technology are included in D2.3 and economic analyses on the SHELLPLANT technology are included in D3.2 and D4.1.
- Calibration curves for estimating the algae cell density in the water based on light absorbance are included in D4.2.
- Data logging and monitoring system including sensors used on the BioFence are described in D4.2.
- Integration of the SHELLPLANT system is briefly described in D5.1 with reference to reports where more detailed information can be found.
- Results from the validation of the prototype system, and analyses of cultured microalgae and the reared bivalves are presented in D5.2 including market scans for three different countries (United Kingdom, Ireland and France) preformed by Innovation Norway on behalf of Bioframe AS (project coordinator).
- A case with a business plan for the commercialisation SHELLPLANT closed system for bivalve farming is presented in D6.1 (prepared by the 2011 UK Team in the Aquaculture Talent Hatchery, VOCATIONAL AQUALABS project).
- Patenting issues and a plan for use of project results are presented in D7.2.
- Additional material used for transferring knowledge from the RTDs to the partners, such as short communications, PowerPoint presentations, drawings, and minutes are available to the consortium from the Basecamp web site and are also described in D7.3.

Potential Impact:

The SHELLPLANT system is the only system that enables environmental control for the farming of bivalve molluscs. The system controls factors like temperature, algae supply and prevent the intake of toxic algae, creating an environment where the shellfish grow at an optimal rate. In turn creating a much higher yearly yield (20 % increase) of good quality, healthy shellfish, due to decreased mortality and increased growth. The development of the SHELLPLANT system will improve the level of control shellfish farmers are able to have over their farmed stock. A fundamental part of this control will be achieved by designing a farm system that prevents the animals from escaping or from being consumed by predators. In addition to this, the SHELLPLANT system will provide the farmer with control of feed distribution, water flow, and also allow manipulation of the water temperature. The main benefit from this is increase of the bivalves' growth rate. However, faster growth may only be accomplished if there are also adequate amounts of feed available. SHELLPLANT project is therefore also optimising algae culture methods to be able to feed the bivalves.

The shellfish farmers and the technology and service providers in the aquaculture industry are experiencing increasing non-European Union (EU) competition. Further development of the industry in Europe must take an approach where farming- technologies, socio-economics, natural resources, use and governance are sustainably integrated. The shellfish industry in Europe is dominated by small family-owned companies, shellfish aquaculture provides year round employment in rural and coastal areas where jobs basically are scarce and the percentage of displaced resource workers is high. Currently, 15 000 jobs attributed directly to the shellfish aquaculture industry in EU. The SHELLPLANT project will give the project partners and the aquaculture industry technology that will strengthen their competitive edge considerably by producing more at a lower cost with a better quality.

Having completed the SHELLPLANT project the SME participants will be subject to increased benefits in terms of their market position and competitiveness. However this increase in competitiveness is not only due to the development of the SHELLPLANT system, the SME participants will have the opportunity to exploit benefits beyond the direct production and integration of the SHELLPLANT system, thus facilitating the SME members in the transition towards joining the new knowledge based economy. This will be done through Intellectual property right (IPR) ownership and revenue generation from the licensing of foreground as opposed to just trading with manufactured products and services. There are a number of key differentiators which enable the core SMEs to exploit these advantages:

Regarding the SMEs in the SHELLPLANT consortium, direct revenue will be expected post project period from:

- sales of complete commercialised SHELLPLANT system and services related to it;
- expansion of market opportunities for BioFence photo-bioreactor;
- increasing the customer base for plastic products in new markets;
- improve efficiency in bivalve farming and thus increase revenues from production.

The SHELLPLANT project main focus has been to develop and adapt new innovative production technology for shellfish farming. Dissemination is important to promote the developed technologies for the target sector, and thereby stimulate the market pull towards the production of the commercial versions of SHELLPLANT. It has therefore been important for us to be in contact with shellfish farmers, technology providers and other stakeholders throughout the project-period. The consortium has through their extensive network played a key-role in dissemination of the SHELLPLANT rearing system and the BioFence photo-bioreactor technology towards the shellfish industry and other stakeholders from the very beginning of the project. Activities have included participation in seminars, major tradeshow exhibitions and conferences, and publication of non-sensitive results (in progress) and a case study. SHELLPLANT technology has also been presented to potential investors and customers.

This has been done at different conferences and exhibitions, such as:

- AquaNor 2011, Trondheim, Norway (http://nor-fishing.no/aqua-nor/aqua-nor-2011/ online for further details)
- Aquaculture Europe 2011, Rhodes , Greece (see http://www.easonline.org online for further details)
- Research Council of Norway: FP7 SME-project presentation at the University Of Stavanger 2011, Stavanger, Norway (see http://www.forskningsradet.no online for further details).

The protection of IPR is essential, and dissemination of project results only occur after the IPR, or 'foreground' created in the project has been protected by appropriate vehicles. A project web-page have been established non-sensitive information from the project and its progress has been shared with the public.

Project website: http://SHELLPLANT.no/