COmmunity Ocean farms and Local Business cLUstErs in the BALTIC sea

2026-07-22

“Regenerative ocean farming” refers to the targeting of keystone ecological processes supported via aquaculture of zero-input, low-trophic species (e.g. seaweeds, bivalves, detritivores) with direct or indirect commercial applications, often in integrated polycultures known as IMTA (integrated multi-trophic aquaculture). These species require no external inputs (antibiotics, feed or fertiliser) while performing beneficial ecosystem services such as increasing biodiversity, storing carbon or improving water quality (excess nutrient uptake, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen etc.). Short for COmmunity Ocean farms and Local Business cLUstErs in the BALTIC sea, COOL BLUE BALTIC (CBB) will provide concrete examples of ecosystem restoration, viable business models and social innovation in order to reorient future fisher/farmers to diversify their income through regenerative aquaculture (i.e. regenerative ocean farming or ROF). The project will assess the interest and feasibility of setting up new ROF sites via multi-stakeholder co-assessment workshops, co-developing six permanent cooperation frameworks (Key Exploitable Results or KERs) to foster enabling conditions for ROF, including measures to monitor the impact of regenerative ocean farms on Baltic aquatic ecosystems. The project will comprise eight exploitation events in the participating countries around the Baltic, leveraging the six KERs to instigate a grassroots international movement which puts coastal communities front-and-centre of ecological restoration and regenerative ocean farming efforts. The KERs will build capacities of public authorities to grant coastal communities access to water, whereby stewardship of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and community-led local development (CLLD) go hand-in-hand, while putting in place permanent support structures to foster ROF initiatives beyond the project period.

Germany

2026-03-01