A project is under way in Denmark to develop a new form of sustainable seafood production.
The Low Trophic Aquaculture: blue food for green transition (LTA BOOST) project will focus on breeding species which do not require feeding because they are able to extract nutrients directly from the marine environment.
The project is being run by a consortium of two institutes at DTU Aqua alongside the University of Nantes in France and a number of seafood production companies. It is co-financed to the tune of DKK17.8 million (€2.39 million) by the European Union’s Innovation Fund.
“We cannot continue as before,” said Jens Kjerulf Petersen, DTU Aqua’s project manager on LTA BOOST.
“Food production has had far too great a strain,” he continued. “”We just need to develop the right methods for native species, and we are looking here at oysters and kelp mud.”
DTU has established the necessary prerequisite to boost low-trophic aquaculture – a new, modern hatchery.
The boost to blue food production is also expected to create new jobs outside the big cities and growth in business communities already cultivating seaweed and shellfish.
The partners hope that the consortium’s make-up of both researchers and practical expertise will guarantee a short path from project to actual results in the field.
