The main aim of task 5.1 is to identify the most immediate climate threats at ASTRAL’s aquaculture sites, and along the Atlantic coast, using a combination of in situ observations and regionally optimized satellite data products. This is of great importance to ensure the sustained productivity of ASTRAL’s IMTA value chains as climate change affects the environmental conditions at the IMTA sites, which, in turn, could affect the organisms being cultured.

Climate change-induced environmental changes may lead to an IMTA site being less optimal for the productivity of specific organisms and more optimal for other organisms. It is therefore necessary to get an overview of changes in environmental conditions over the past several decades. Using this knowledge, we can better assess which environmental variables are most vulnerable to climate change and therefore may have the greatest impact on the organisms being cultured at ASTRAL’s aquaculture sites.