Below is a CIEL Member Research roundup for 2022 – 23 Aquaculture Seed Funding Initiative

Seaweed Protein Biomass Cultivation System

Project led by:

The project is design to grow high protein seaweeds in a cost-effective way. The project will focus on the viability of the system to grow seaweeds and the palatability of high protein seaweeds with egg laying hens. The project will test the first prototype of a unique cultivation system using two different high protein species of seaweeds.

Nutrient analysis of the content of the seaweeds will be undertaken by University of Stirling and prepared dried seaweeds fed to a number of egg laying hens to test their response to the addition of seaweeds in their diet. The nutritional data, outcomes from the feed trials will be prepared for public dissemination.

Pond Emissions in Pangasius Ponds

Project led by:

This project will evaluate Green House Gases (GHGs) from pangasius (basa) farms in Vietnam, destined for consumption in the UK. Basa is the third most consumed fish in the UK and there is a lack of scientific reports in this area. As such, this project will contribute significantly to the knowledge of this important topic.

It will also allow Hilton to ensure reporting is accurate and to target carbon reduction improvements at farm level, allowing us to better inform consumers and product development on the journey to net zero.

Woking with the University of Stirling, the project will record emissions from pangasius ponds directly at farms in Vietnam as well as gathering qualitative data on farm practices (feed inputs, water exchanges, sediment management etc). To ensure the measurement is representative of the full lifecycle the emissions will be measured at ponds in different stages of the pangasius lifecycle. The results of this project will be utilised to create more robust life cycle assessment (LCA) for this particular fish type.

Life Cycle Analysis of UK grown warm water prawns

Project is led by:

There are no fresh prawn farms currently in the UK. Prawns imported to the UK travel up to 10,000 miles in a sea freight freezer over 45 days. Land Ocean Farm will develop commercial prawn farming in the UK, taking the lead by capitalising on existing know-how and technologies driven by high efficiency and vertical integration from breeding to processing. Using recognized software, the project will enable work with specialists to help identify likely impacts and identify the resource data issue for LCAs in this sector.

Given consumer demand, Government policy, energy market volatility and a very clear need for sustainable food production systems; this would offer exceptional value for money to all stakeholders, including British prawn farmers, taxpayers, and the consumer by delivering a tested LCA approach for the sector, which will be published for general access.

Enhancing the LCA of cleaner fish as a sustainable tool for sealice management

Project led by:

Sealice cost the salmon industry as much as US$500 million annually and a range of removal methods have been developed to help combat the issue. However, none of these are 100% effective. Cleaner fish, such as ballan wrasse, have been used increasingly as an eco-friendly tool for managing sealice. There have been huge improvements in clean fish husbandry but ballan wrasse biology means they often have difficulty in nutrient absorption from traditional feeds.

Moving from live feeds to formulated feeds in early life stages is particularly challenging. This project will assess the effect of functional feed ingredients on the performance, immune system and microbiome of juvenile ballan wrasse and look to demonstrate that the use of such ingredients can limit mortality rates of ballan wrasse during production. This improvement would have positive impacts on the LCA of the salmon industry in Scotland.

Find out more on how CIEL is supporting the Aquaculture sector.