A new research project, ShellAqua, aims to quantify the benefits to human wellbeing provided by the natural environment from healthy ecosystems, potentially provided by shellfish aquaculture.
ShellAqua was one of the projects that recently received funding by Bord Iascaigh Mhara, under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund funded Knowledge Gateway Scheme. The project, led by the MOREFISH group, an aquaculture research unit based within the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway, began in May 2021. The MOREFISH research group specialises in the incorporation of life cycle assessment and circular economy models for the seafood sector in Ireland.
The project was developed from partnerships and engagement with industry through the Atlantic Area Interreg project, NEPTUNUS.
The project has four goals, each formed around producing tangible outputs for society, industry and wider stakeholders:
Develop an ecosystem services-based tool using operational and monitoring data for case-study shellfish aquaculture sites. These datasets will be developed using laboratory scale experiments and on-site monitoring.
Develop life cycle datasets on mussel and oyster production in order to produce a tool that will allow operators and producers to continue monitoring their environmental performance after the project concludes.
Assess the economic benefits of the outputs from the preceding goals. The results of the previous work packages will be used to estimate the value of the ecosystems services provided by shellfish aquaculture at the case-study sites.
Engage in knowledge transfer of methods, results and approaches. Industry partners and stakeholders will be actively engaged throughput the project through a series of workshops and training events.
For more information on ShellAqua, MOREFISH and NEPTUNUS visit: www.morefish.ie, https://neptunus-project.eu/ or contact Alan Kennedy, NUI Galway, at [email protected].
