AQUAEXCEL

AQUAculture infrastructures for EXCELLence in European Fish research

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'AQUAEXCEL will coordinate the highest class European aquaculture research facilities covering the entire range of production systems (recirculation, flow-through, cage, hatchery and pond systems), environments (freshwater and marine, cold and warm water), scales (small, medium and industrial scale), fish species (salmon, trout, sea bass, sea bream, cod, carp…), and fields of expertise (nutrition, physiology, health and welfare, genetics, monitoring and management technologies and engineering). AQUAEXCEL will: - Link and coordinate key research infrastructures in Europe: cage, recirculation and hatchery aquaculture systems, land and sea based, fresh and salt water installations in order to create the basis for synergistic research projects - Provide research teams with access to a wide range of the state-of-the-art infrastructures covering all important aquaculture species, systems, environments and expertises - Increase resource sharing and standardization between partners, notably but not exclusively for fish models and experimental methods developed in-house - Stimulate innovation through transfer of knowledge, harmonisation and development of best practices across fields of research, production systems and species - Execute joint research and development activities designed to improve the services currently provided by the infrastructures (remote access and monitoring, more accurate performance evaluation, limitation of live animals use, applicability of results at industry scale, development of biological models). - Bridge the gap between the scientific community and the industry through stimulation of problem-based research and enhanced knowledge transfer AQUAEXCEL will facilitate a coherent development of the aquaculture research facilities for which there is a strong demand from the public and private sectors of aquaculture research, which have to work towards sustainable production of high quality seafood with reduced environmental impact.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

European researchers have been developing a long-lasting network of top-level aquaculture research infrastructures. It has supported the European aquaculture sector to stay at the forefront of research development which will help the European aquaculture industry to provide high quality and nutritious food to the European consumer.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The aim of the 'Aquaculture infrastructures for excellence in European fish research' (http://www.aquaexcel.eu (AQUAEXCEL)) project was to stimulate collaboration within the European aquaculture research sector. Through cooperation between 17 aquaculture Research Infrastructures, key aquaculture facilities were integrated and opened up to give aquaculture researchers Europe-wide the chance to use these facilities for new http://www.euronews.com/2014/06/16/a-tasty-and-sustainable-future-for-fish-farming/ (research).

AQUAEXCEL researchers have undertaken many different activities, for example, development of new methods and tools, such as best practice guides and common standards for describing fish traits and environmental conditions in order to harmonise experimental practices which will lead to improved quality of scientific results.

New phenotyping tools and methods have also been developed to help provide more accurate data from experimental fish. This will result in new non-invasive, non-lethal, cheaper and simplified techniques for testing new husbandry technologies, systems or fish lines.

Progress has also been made on methods used to measure and describe physical attributes of sea bream, salmon and trout. In particular, partners have created tools to analyse fish health under stress, to indicate the onset of puberty and to tag fish in early life.

A further project aim was to develop new genetically identical lines of salmon, sea bass and carp. These will allow scientists to replace, reduce or refine the number of animals used in experiments, resulting in improved welfare conditions and speeding up the development of more effective and appropriate drug therapies and vaccines.

AQUAEXCEL also pioneered training courses in cutting-edge techniques employed in aquaculture research. This will improve staff performance and the employability of European aquaculture professionals.