New solutions for eco-friendly aquaculture

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

As fisheries stagnate due to globally overexploited fish stocks, the demand for seafood continues to rise, resulting in a spectacular growth of the aquaculture sector, which is now the fastest growing food production sector with an average worldwide growth rate of about 9% a year since 1980. Due to its special characteristics as a brackish inland sea, the prerequisites for fish aquaculture in the German Baltic Sea Area are unfavorable in comparison to other marine regions.

Aims

Fostering the cooperation of research institutes and local SMEs with the intention to develop a sustainable aquaculture industry using new technologies. These are:

• Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS): these land-based (indoor) systems are using freshwater or saltwater to cultivate fish and other aquatic species in tank and raceway systems.
• Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), either in open water or land based systems, are combining fish production with mussel cultivation and / or plant production. A special form of IMTA is Aquaponics.

All applications should always be run in combination with regenerative energy forms like biogas to lower the production costs.