Demonstration of intensive shellfish farming in OPEN waters with resilient and affordable MODulEs

ended

The growth of the shellfish sector in EU is nearly stagnant due to the increasing global competition and the saturation of the areas protected from swell where intensive farming is viable. OpenMode is launched by two companies to go beyond the resilient platforms tested in previous works, proposing floating connectable modules for intensive farming in open waters. Its main objective is to prove their capacity to bridge the sector gaps farming on four full-scale demonstrators in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and North Sea Basins. The fifth demonstrator aims to prove the capacity to transfer this affordable technology to other blue growth sectors. The platform redesign towards portable and versatile modules will consider their interaction with the swell and the response of different connection systems. The integration of remote sensors to control water, weather and structural parameters will assure the surveillance, reduce operating costs and explain through big data analysis which factors affect the harvest growth rates. Eight 140 m2 modules will be produced and floated in Spain, Denmark, Croatia, Montenegro and Malta, where local farmers will share them harvesting molluscs or macroalgae. They will learn through trainings how to use it to avoid predation, achieve more phytoplankton or scale-up compensation measures, sharing their user experience with the designers and other farmers. This will allow completing the market study and Life Cycle Assessment. Colloquiums and events will raise awareness of this sustainable farming and promote synergies with other EU programs. The project success will activate intense farming in high-potential unexploited areas, and become an efficient tool to combat eutrophication in North and Baltic sea. Sharing the modules during the project can grow into a cooperative business model for the farmers with fewer resources. Finally, the versatility and cost reduction reached will let it to be adapted for other blue growth sectors.