Abalone produced at France Haliotis and tasted during AquaVitae´s presentation during the EMD2023.
AquaVitae was present at European Maritime Day. The last edition of EMD was held in Brest, France, from 24th to 25th May. AquaVitae showcased the progresses and outcomes achieved in the final year of the project.
Sylvain Huchette (pictured on the left), CEO from France Haliotis, Rosa Chapela (in the middle), from the Fisheries Socio-economic Department at CETMAR (Spain) and Colin Hannon (on the right), from the Atlantic Technology University (Ireland), represented AquaVitae at the EU booth in the second day of the event in Brest. This provided the AV team with an opportunity to present some of the project’s results, and the team were able to answer questions as queries about the project.
Attendees were attracted by the tasting of macroalgae and abalone, accompanied by the presence of an impressive specimen of Saccharina latissima, a large brown macroalga that decorated the booth. Sylvain Huchette also had a tasting event where Chips with nori, tartar of seaweed and Japanese style cooked abalone, were some of the delicious prepared with the products cultured at his multi trophic farm, France Haliotis, located in Plouguerneau, a village in the North of Britanny.
Rosa Chapela explained the concept and rules of the AquaVitae Game and informed about the AquaVitae training programme SALTS MOOC. Young students were very enthusiastic about enrolling the open online course. The MOOC was developed as a need identified by industry and researchers due to limited educational resources on low trophic aquaculture.
Representatives of DG MARE attended the EU stand during the AquaVitae event and were particularly interested in the AquaVitae Game and the possibilities posed for all users. DG MARE found the game as an opportunity to learn and spread the word on sustainable aquaculture among students.
Over 80 people passed through the AquaVitae event. They could taste macroalgae and abalone products develop during the AquaVitae project, and learn not only about the advances of the project, but also about the benefits of a low trophic aquaculture.
In addition, Colin Hannon participated with other key speakers in the workshop Invertebrates aquaculture: Towards circular model, held in the afternoon of the 24th, and organised by the MARE – Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal. Colin Hannon talked about sea urchins and sea cumbers, species researched in AquaVitae and the BlueBio funded InEVal project, the projects he represented during the round table. Overall, the main points presented by Hannon included the need for rapid transfer of research and innovation on low trophic species to industry for the further advancement of the sector. Moreover, he highlighted that the culture of low trophic species has low environmental impact, which contributes to a circular economy.
