INTEGRATION OF DIFFERENT DATA SOURCES FOR MANAGEMENT OF OFFSHORE BIVALVE AQUACULTURE AT SAGRES, PORTUGAL

Poster presentation during the AES2021 Madeira.

As part of this effort, the GAIN project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme, aims to improve green aquaculture intensification by developing technological innovations and diversification for sustainable growth of the aquaculture sector in the blue economy  (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/216474/). There is pressure to develop aquaculture concessions offshore, and  within the GAIN project, one of these concessions is a longline system for  growing  mussel  located offshore in SW Europe (Fig 1). Consultation meetings with  stakeholders showed four topics  for which they wanted solutions:

1)Acquisition of near real time data (NRT) for daily management;

2)Ensuring sufficient date to comply with State and EU legislation  (e.g Water Framework and Marine Strategy Framework Directives);

3)Adequate historical and current environmental data  to obtain certification for sustainability (e.g Aquaculture Stewardship Council);

4)Research to improve management of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) events.