Ensuring global food security for the growing population is an important topic that many researchers are dealing with. As the demand for food and sustainable resources increases, the world's oceans play an increasingly important role in the nutrition, health and well-being of populations. But the production of marine resources can no longer be sustained by ecosystems and natural fisheries production only. The EU project OLAMUR (Offshore Low-trophic Aquaculture in Multi-use Scenario Realisation), which runs from January 2023 to December 2026, aims to help combine aquaculture production with renewable wind energy and, through far-reaching progress, create a framework for a healthy, fair, safe, climate – and environmentally friendly offshore low-trophic aquaculture within multi-use systems.
The project partners combine their expertise in modern practices in multi-use low-trophic aquaculture (MU-LTA) in offshore waters with key industrial partners. The project will pave the way for a low-impact and low-carbon seafood industry, thereby reducing food and nutrition insecurity in a changing climate.
The main goal of OLAMUR is to bring MU-LTA related key sectors together to demonstrate sustainable commercial solutions for both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. These two seas represent high and low salinity. A total of twenty-five partners across EU industry and research organizations are involved in the project. The Norwegian Institute for Marine Research (IMR) is leading the project, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is in charge of all case studies.
The project partners will establish three pilot sites for the cultivation of algae and mussels in wind farms or near a trout farm. The pilot sites will be implemented off the coast of the German island of Helgoland, in the Baltic Sea near Kriegers Flak on the east coast of Denmark and off the coast of Estonia near the port of Veere.
Original publication:
Kevin G. Heasman, Nicholas Scott, Malcolm Smeaton, Nils Goseberg, Arndt Hildebrandt, Peter Vitasovich, Andrew Elliot, Michael Mandeno, Bela H. Buck (2021) New system design for the cultivation of extractive species at exposed sites -Part 1: System design, deployment and first response to high-energy environments. Applied Ocean Research 110: 102603. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2021.102603