The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) has signed a Letter of Intent with New Zealand’s Cawthron Institute.
It will allow for the exploration of research projects, in particular projects that could lead to higher productivity in the shellfish industry.
This new Letter of Intent between SAIC and Cawthron was signed by Heather Jones, SAIC CEO, and Professor Charles Eason, Cawthron’s chief executive at Aquaculture Europe 2016.
Ms Jones explained: “Supporting new shellfish production systems is one of SAIC’s four priority innovation areas; areas identified by the Scottish aquaculture industry as being key to the sustainable growth of the sector.”
“This new, more formal relationship with the Cawthron Institute will enable us to pool our combined knowledge of the challenges of selective breeding for mussels and oysters, amongst other issues, to make more advances, faster.”
SAIC first connected with the renowned Cawthron Institute and its pioneering commercial mussel hatchery SPATnz back in 2015 when researching the viability of a similar facility in Scotland.
Now a £1.7m multi-partner hatchery is now being piloted at the NAFC Marine Centre at the University of Highlands and Islands, with additional expertise from Spring Bay Seafoods.
The potential benefits of the new collaborative agreement aren’t restricted solely to the shellfish sector.
Professor Eason added: “New Zealand has a strong track record in terms of production but as such we need to be thinking increasingly about sustainability, and Scotland has a great deal of expertise in the areas of fish health and welfare, genetics and biosecurity.”
“This Letter of Intent represents an important connection, enabling us to identify areas of mutual interest, tap into best practice and really keep a close eye on the health and welfare aspect of aquaculture.”
Earlier this year SAIC signed a similar Letter of Intent with Nofima, that has since resulted in a meeting between Scottish and Norwegian researchers to identify possible areas of collaboration.
