The Irish Seaweed Consultancy have been following the growth and fertility of Himanthalia elongata plants on the shore. In 2018, plants and conceptacles were measured monthly. From early summer, males and females could be differentiated by eye under the microscope. In August, ISC were successful in having eggs & sperm released onto Petri dishes. They are now in the process of repeating the release every two weeks and following the % success of each release.
INTEGRATE stands out prominently in an article on IMTA published by the French magazine Produits de la Mer in its September 2018 issue no. 185. The article also features CEVA’s Bertrand Jacquemin’s insights into the challenges facing the current and future development of IMTA and reviews relevant projects taking place in France.
Click on the link to read the article 2018_09_04 Produits de la Mer n°185 – Aquaculture multitrophique_un concept à valider
INTEGRATE was an active participant at the WAS/EAS joint conference Aqua 2018 which took place in Montpellier (France) on 25-29 August 2018. We contributed a poster presentation of the project titled PROJECT INTEGRATE -INTEGRATED AQUACULTURE: AN ECO-INNOVATIVE SOLUTION TO FOSTER SUSTAINABILITY IN THE ATLANTIC AREA and the oral presentation INTEGRATED MULTI-TROPHIC AQUACULTURE (IMTA) BEST PRACTICES: STATE-OF-THE-ART IN THE ATLANTIC AREA featured in the IMTA session chaired by Thierry Chopin.
INTEGRATE’s Work Package 4 is implementing three pilot actions to test IMTA species associations, technology and farming techniques. Partners have tailored the design of their pilot IMTA systems to the envisaged experiments and the corresponding data collection & assessment requirements.
Pilot 1 studies innovative IMTA systems to find alternatives to organic and inorganic extractive components for Atlantic IMTA. Experiments will monitor performances of different IMTA associations in controlled systems. Also, IMTA’s underdeveloped benthic component will be assessed to develop suitable technologies to support it. The market potential of Atlantic IMTA seaweeds will be improved by developing production techniques for new high-value species.
Pilot 1 partners are AGROCAMPUS OUEST and CEVA (France), NUIG and ISC (Ireland), SAMS (UK) and ALGAPLUS (Portugal).
CEVA’s pilot 1 aims to develop cultivation techniques for three new high value seaweed species: Codium tomentosum, Palmaria palmata and Porphyra purpurea. The pilot will implement land-based and at-sea trials using wild samples of the three seaweeds (in progress). Different materials and conditions will be tested in order to come up with cultivation techniques that are easily adapted to different existing aquaculture systems (shellfish, fish, etc.).
NUIG’s pilot 1 aims to develop cultivation of Ulva spp. in two different IMTA systems – (1) together with lumpsuckers (Cyclopterus lumpus) in a land-based experimental scale recirculation system, and (2) alongside Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) grown at sea. For system 1 we will look at bioremediation capacity of both lamina and tubular morphotypes of Ulva under different stocking densities and at different effluent flow rates. Currently the first prototype system is being constructed.
For system 2 NUIG is developing a protocol to sporulate the local ulva species and seed it onto culture twine that can then be transplanted to sea. Sporulation experiments are currently on-going and in the meantime the first deployment of vegetative Ulva has been out-planted at sea, in order to assess growth rates and nitrogen content when cultivated close to and far from the salmon cages.
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Pilot 2 seeks to develop efficient management techniques for Porphyra-oyster IMTA systems. The wild collection and hatchery production of Porphyra are being assessed in order to provide oyster farmers with new tools to support their diversification efforts, and to bring new supplies to the seaweed industry and new hatchery best practice.
Pilot 2 partners are CEVA and AGROCAMPUS OUEST (France) and Algaplus (Portugal).
CEVA’s pilot 2 started in June 2018 with a prospection of the French Oyster farms where Porphyra purpurea naturally recruits on oyster nests. To date, 4 sites have been identified (Figure 2) and the isolation of conchocelis is in progress.
Conchocelis experimental culture aims at i) developing a durable strain collection (from 2018 to 2020), ii) defining optimal cultivation conditions for seeding on oyster nests (autumn 2018) and iii) transferring knowledge to oyster farms (2019).
Simultaneously, discussions with oyster farmers are running in order to propose different efficient harvesting techniques, which will be subsequently tested in 2019.
This approach will allow CEVA to develop technical itineraries and methods for an integrated aquaculture combining oysters and Porphyra.
Pilot action 3: IMTA eco-friendly standard model for land-based semi-extensive aquaculture industry.
Pilot 3 focuses on land-based IMTA systems combining fish, molluscs, invertebrates and seaweed/salt tolerant plants. The possibility of controlling water flow through different compartments makes land-based systems an excellent candidate for successful Atlantic IMTA.
CTAQUA’s pilot combines land-based fish production with oysters and seaweed as IMTA components. This system is being implemented at a converted salt marsh in the Bahía de Cádiz Nature Reserve (Andalucía, Spain). CTAQUA has started the pilot by deploying a land-based longline system and seeding it with seaweed (Ulva sp.).
The remaining two components are an oyster (Crassostrea gigas or Magallana gigas) rack-and-bag system and a gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) growout facility in earthen ponds. The pilot will be in operation until late 2019.
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INTEGATE will use the results of CTAQUA’s, IPMA’s and ALGAPLUS’ trials to develop a sustainable industry standard for land-based semi-extensive IMTA.
On 18 April 2018, INTEGRATE partners attended a Life Cycle Assessment and Emergy/Ecopath workshop organised by Work Package 5 leader IPMA.
The workshop was meant to help partners understand what is required for Work Package 5 model parameterisation (INPUTS) and what the models can do (OUTPUTS) for their pilot actions. It was divided into two units focusing on i) a generic ecological/ecosystem modelling software to calculate the energy balance for IMTA systems (Ecopath with Ecosim) and ii) the definition of LCA and Emergy accounting, discussing model parameterisation (INPUTS) and presenting simulations (OUTPUTS).
Participants:
The workshop was split into three units:
Unit 1: Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) Sofia Gamito (U. Algarve)
Unit 1 addresses the potential of this modelling software when applied to Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) systems. The results of an experiment carried out by EPPO-IPMA in 2016 were be used to discuss the suitability of EwE. The experiment tested three different IMTA treatments: Fish+Oysters+Macroalgae, Fish+Oysters, Fish+Macroalgae.
Unit 2: LCA/EMERGY Aurélie Wilfart (INRA)
Unit 2 discussed two assessment methods (LCA and Emergy accounting) and how they are used to assess the environmental performance of IMTA systems.
Unit 3: LCA in Project IDREEM: lessons learnt Adam Hughes (SAMS)
The European IDREEM project had a dedicated work package to the development of LCAs for IMTA production systems. Unit 3 described the major findings of the project as they pertain to LCA and discussed some of the lessons learnt about the use of these assessments to quantify the environmental performance of IMTA systems.
The INTEGRATE partnership last met on 17–18 April 2018 at IPMA’s Estação Piloto de Piscicultura de Olhão.
The meeting agenda included an in-depth review of the project status, the first progress review and the implementation of the work plan.
The meeting was followed by a visit to the IMTA facilities at IPMA’s Estação Piloto de Piscicultura de Olhão.
The INTERGRATE partnership will be holding its next meeting at SAMS’ facilities in Oban (Scotland) on 2 October 2018.
