Introducing Sarah Joly

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The EATiP Secretariat are delighted to be hosting an intern for the third consecutive year, continuing our tradition of taking a student from the University of Liège who is studying for a Masters in Oceanography.

This year we are delighted to welcome Sarah Joly.

Sarah will be assisting the EATiP team  on a number of project and administrative tasks and we look forward to her getting to know both our diverse projects and membership in more detail.  In a short message that Sarah provided by way of introducing herself to the EATiP Platform, we were struck with her clear understanding of the need to balance the public demand for sustainable industries with the increasingly important role of aquaculture in the provision of Blue Foods to the European market.

“I support the concept of aquaculture, the need to farm fish, shellfish and algae, but also appreciate the consumer perspective of wishing to see “sustainable” industries. In summary, I am in line with the socio-economic vision for the development of the aquaculture sector and the wider blue economy.”

Sarah Joly – 2nd Year Masters Student at the University of Liège

 

 

Although the intern position is only for one month, it looks like Sarah will be returning to the aquaculture community before too long, going on to tell us, “I was lucky enough to get an internship at EATIP. This gives me an opportunity for concrete consideration of the practical issues relating to aquaculture. This apprenticeship also gives me the opportunity to consider the range of work and opportunities in this field. This is something that I would like to pursue after my university studies have concluded.”

We look forward to working with Sarah and showing the wealth of opportunities there are in aquaculture – as demonstrated across our diverse platform membership and to demonstrate to her trends and priorities in the aquaculture research and innovation network, both in terms of industry priorities but also from the perspectives of policy considerations.   We thank our supporters and members for their welcome to Sarah over the next few weeks – let’s see what opportunities might arise!

OLAMUR – a new EU funded project addressing aquaculture and renewable energy.

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EATiP are delighted to be participating in a new EU Mission Ocean Lighthouse project, considering the integration of aquaculture production with renewable wind energy in marine multi use sites.

The OLAMUR project, running from January 2023 to December 2026 will engage 25 partners across European industry and research organisations who will work together to farm kelp and mussels at three pilot sites in Europe: two existing offshore wind farms and one fish farm that produces rainbow trout.

The Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway is leading the project, whilst EATiP will take responsibility for leading on communication and dissemination activities.

The offshore wind farm Kriegers Flak in Kattegat is operated by the swedish company and project partner Vattenfall. This is one of the sites for kelp, mussels and artifical reefs. Photo: Vattenfall

The project is due to receive total European Union funding of €8,2 million over the course of the four year project duration.

“The OLAMUR project is a prime example of the way we have to work to solve the big problems of our time. It is not only an interdisciplinary, international scientific effort, but a lighthouse project which is set to provide specific, sustainable solutions for actual industries – today”, noted Nils Gunnar Kvamstø, Director of IMR, during his welcome address to project partners at a kick off meeting hosted by IMR in Bergen, Norway.  “In this case, how can you combine energy production and sustainable food production, while perhaps also providing services to the ecosystem?”

The project will investigate several aspects of this, such as:

  • Practical solutions to the challenge of farming in exposed offshore environments.
  • Will the kelp/bivalves produced be safe to eat? (For example, concerns have been expressed about microplastics and hydraulic fluid from wind turbines)
  • Potential carbon storage and habitat enhancement from farming kelp/bivalves.
  • Legislation and regulation (including considering bureaucratic barriers to co-location and MSP?)
  • In practice, wind farms can act as reserves for fish and other animals, since fishing is prohibited – can this type of reserve benefit some species, fisheries and aquatic ecosystems?
  • Can we improve the habitat for fish and other animals by creating artificial reefs there?

As a “lighthouse” project the work will contribution to a number of EU policy priorities including working towards the 2030 Mission Ocean goal of restoring oceans and waters through research, innovation and blue investment.

The project is based in the Baltic basin, but seeks to benefit other EU and international basins through knowledge and innovation transfer. In many states, the offshore wind industry and marine multi use sites are only in the early stages of development.  The project will also contribute in discussions surrounding the increasing emphasis on Marine Spatial Planning and engage with the EU MSP Platform.

The project partners in the various work packages are now in the planning process.  Project partners include:

Project parnters attending the project kick off meeting in Bergen, Norway in January 2023. (Photo: Erlend A. Lorentzen / IMR)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the pilot facilities in Denmark and Estonia, equipment will probably be put into the sea this year, with Germany following in 2024.

”There are no off the shelf solutions for the type of aquaculture we are about to do. We have to develop the solutions from scratch, tailored to meet the local conditions” – Bela H. Buck, Professor at the German Alfred Wegener Instiute, leading the work package which looks at the farming itself. (Photo: Erlend A. Lorentzen / IMR)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project communication and dissemination tools are currently being developed including a project website, communication and dissemination plan and social media contacts.  Look out for futher details coming soon!  Please see here for further contact details on the project.