ASTRAL Analysis of prospective IMTA lab in Argentina D2.6

This report was created as part of the WP2 ‘New IMTA value chains and production methods’ of the H2020 All Atlantic Ocean Sustainable, Profitable and Resilient Aquaculture (ASTRAL) project.
The objective of this deliverable was to gather, in a single document, valuable information for planning the development of integrated multitrophic marine aquaculture (IMTA) in Argentina.
Throughout the document, data are gathered on different aspects of importance for planning the development of IMTA in Argentina, such as the history of marine aquaculture development in Argentina, the potential of native species of the Beagle Channel, and their current market value and opportunities. For this, valuable opinions and experiences were collected from different stakeholders, including scientific researchers, producers, policymakers, technical staff, and consumers, who contributed small details that are unknown or often overlooked when planning aquaculture development.
In addition to analysing the species’ potential, a study of the environmental conditions of the Beagle Channel was carried out, recording valuable data such as seasonal variations in water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and light at different depths.
Furthermore, a geographic information system (GIS) was created as a tool to save, order, update, and manipulate valuable data for aquaculture site selection. This GIS contains information on environmental conditions, available infrastructure, marine traffic, protected natural areas, and coastal uses, among others.
For each topic that was addressed, the existing gaps were described, and recommendations were proposed to address future work aimed at achieving the development of profitable and sustainable IMTA in Argentina.