The framework programme of the European Union Horizon 2020 finances the project with almost 6 million euros. Leitat attended the kick-off meeting, which was held on June 28 in Galway, Ireland.
IMPAQT (Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture Intelligent Management System – IMTA) is a project funded by the European Union aimed at developing innovative technologies that allow the sustainable production of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture.
Over the next three years, starting in May 2018, 21 partners from Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Turkey, France, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, Italy, and China will work together to develop sensors, data sources, and an intelligent management platform for long-term monitoring of this promising aquaculture concept.
The management platform developed by IMPAQT will be characterized by being polyvalent (suitable for interior, coastal, and offshore environments), multisensory, and multifunctional (advanced monitoring, modeling, data analysis, and decision-making).
Conventional aquaculture does not adjust to the growing market pressure nor to the EU’s requirements in terms of profitability, optimal use of resources, and environmental management. In this context, aquaculture using the IMTA approach allows a more efficient cultivation of different species in a shared space, connected by the transfer of nutrients and energy through water.
IMTA is still in its infancy in Europe, and its large-scale development remains complicated, mainly due to the limited understanding of how each of the components that make up the integrated multi-trophic aquaculture ecosystem interact and function, as well as the impact they have on the environment.
In this sense, the technologies developed in the IMPAQT project will provide spatially explicit information on how the different components of the aquaculture farm and its regulators interact, as well as its integrated management system. This system will operate on an IMTA farm scale and will include analytical and support functions for decision-making, helping to improve operational decisions related to animal welfare, production optimization, environmental protection, and food quality assessment.
The IMPAQT prototypes will be validated in six pilot countries: Scotland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Turkey, and China. This project will promote an intensification of EU aquaculture with minimal environmental impact and promising socio-economic results, paving the way for a circular economy business model.
Source: feuga.es
