News & Views
Project to improve efficiencies at Ireland’s land-based farms

An innovative multidisciplinary aquaculture project led by Ireland’s NUI Galway and Athlone Institute of Technology is set to improve production efficiencies and management of farmed fish at several inland freshwater sites.

The project, named EcoAqua, has received €348,781 in funding under the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF), administered by Bord Iascaigh Mhara, through the Knowledge Gateway Scheme, on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

EcoAqua will address several critically important needs identified by industry and aquaculture stakeholders including:

Analysing the environmental and energy performance of three freshwater aquaculture sites by extensive sampling and remote online monitoring of water parameters.
Facilitating the re-use of the treated water, thereby reducing both the volumes of extracted and discharged waters.
Enabling the industry to meet stringent environmental regulation while increasing production in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.
Piloting technological innovations with industry to ensure the research is easily and rapidly transferrable to the aquaculture sector.

Alan Kennedy, EcoAqua project manager at NUI Galway, said: “This timely project will improve the water quality of freshwater farms through the incorporation of water treatment technologies and energy reduction interventions into existing flow-through farms that will also enable seamless transitions to next-generation production formats.”

For further information about the project contact Alan Kennedy, Project Manager, at michaelalan.kennedy@nuigalway.ie.

April 16, 2018 By Quentin Dodd