Exploring the biological and socio-economic potential of new/emerging candidate fish species for the expansion of the European aquaculture industry

Abstract

The project DIVERSIFY has identified a number of new/emerging finfish species, with a great potential for the expansion of the EU aquaculture industry. Although the emphasis is on Mediterranean cage-culture, fish species suitable for cold-water, pond/extensive and fresh water aquaculture have been included as well. These new/emerging species are fast growing and/or large finfishes marketed at a large size and can be processed into a range of products to provide the consumer with both a greater diversity of fish species and new value-added products. The fish species to be studied include meagre (Argyrosomus regius) and greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) for warm-water marine cage culture, wreckfish (Polyprion americanus) for warm- and cool-water marine cage culture, Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) for marine cold-water culture, grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) a euryhaline herbivore for pond/extensive culture, and pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) for freshwater intensive culture using recirculating systems. These species were selected based both on their biological and economical potential, and to cover the entire European geographic area and to stimulate different aquaculture types. In collaboration with the SMEs and/or Large Enterprises, DIVERSIFY will build on recent/current national initiatives for species diversification in aquaculture, in order to overcome the documented bottlenecks in the production of these species. Research will be carried out in the scientific disciplines of Reproduction and Genetics, Nutrition, Larval husbandry, Grow out husbandry, Fish health and Socioeconomics (including final product quality). The combination of biological, technological and socioeconomic research planned in DIVERSIFY are expected to support the diversification of the aquaculture industry and help in expanding production, increasing aquaculture products and development of new markets. To ensure the dissemination and implementation of the new knowledge that will be developed by the project, a wide range of dissemination activities have been planned, targeted both to the aquaculture production and its associated sectors (i.e., food processing and retailing), as well as the European consumers. Besides the technical improvement of the selected species, the socio-economic research in DIVERSIFY includes an applied market development approach solutions on perception of aquaculture products, market demand, buyer preferences, new product development, value adding and market development. These outcomes will help the EU aquaculture sector and the supply industry in targeted marketing and improvement of its international competitive position. The project DIVERSIFY is funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission (7FP-KBBE-2013). This 5-year-long project is coordinated by Dr. Constantinos C Mylonas of the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC), one of the three institutes of the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (HCMR), and has a total budget of 11,8 million euro for its 5 year duration. Participating in the project are a total of 38 partners from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany and Hungary. The partners are mainly research and academic institutions, but the consortium includes also 3 Large Enterprises, 9 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), 5 Professional Associations and one consumer NGO.