Seed funding announced for aquaculture projects
SEAWEED cultivation, cleaner fish life cycle assessment and the carbon footprint of Pangasius (basa) roduction are among the topics covered by four seed funding projects announced by the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL).
They are the first aquaculture projects to be funded by CIEL, which was set up by the UK government as one of four AgriTech centres.
CIEL added aquaculture to its remit last year. The themes for the latest seed funding round are:
• seaweed mariculture and, specifically, the application of seaweed as a feed for livestock; and
• life cycle assessment (LCA) of aquaculture species.
Martin Sutcliffe, CIEL’s Aquaculture Specialist, said: “CIEL works collaboratively across the agrifood sector, encouraging knowledge exchange while utilising the academic expertise that underpins the Centre’s network. Bringing agrifood and aquaculture together is one of the main goals of this work.
“These are ‘seed’ projects designed to be developed further in the future, helping to drive the industry forward.”
The selected seaweed project involves startup company, Seaweed Generation Ltd, which will be looking at growing protein as feed for egg-laying hens. Nutrient analysis of the content of the seaweeds will be undertaken by the University of Stirling.
Another project, led by Hilton Foods, will evaluate greenhouse gases (GHGs) from farms in Vietnam producing basa destined for consumption in the UK. The project will also allow Hilton to ensure its GHG reporting is accurate and to target carbon reduction improvements at farm level.
A third project involves assessing LCA for warm-water prawns in the UK. The project, led by Land Ocean Farm, which aims to produce prawns in the UK for the home market, aims to estimate what its carbon footprint could be.
The fourth project is focused on enhancing the LCA of cleaner fish. Led by feed specialist Anpario, this project will focus on the effect of functional feed ingredients on the performance, immune system and microbiome of juvenile ballan wrasse.