Research project
IDREEM - Increasing industrial resource efficiency in European mariculture
What are the environmental trade-offs for SMEs considering moving from monoculture aquaculture practice towards IMTA? What are the environmental trade-offs comparing IMTA species with their conventional monoculture alternatives?
- Duration
- 2012 - 2016
- Funding
-
The project is funded by the EU FP7
- Partners
Partners
The partners in this project are also the partners in the IDREEM project.
- The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), United Kingdom
- VIKING Fish Farms Limited (VFF), United Kingdom
- The Scottish Salmon Company Limited (SSC), United Kingdom
- SUF - FISH Ltd (Suf-Fish), Israel
- Gildeskal Forskningsstasjon AS (GIFAS), Norway
- Daithi O'Murchu Marine Research Station Ltd (DOMMRS), Ireland
- SEAWAVE Fisheries Ltd (SW), Cyprus
- AQUA Societa Agricola SRL (AQUA), Italy
- Marine & Environmental Research Lab Ltd (MER), Cyprus
- Longline Environment Ltd (LONGLINE), United Kingdom
- University of Haifa (HU), Israel
- Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (BIOFORSK), Norway
- Universita Degli Studi di Genova (UNIGE), Italy
- Energia, Trasporti, Agricoltura SRL (ETA), Italy
Short abstract
IDREEM is a FP7 European research project started to protect the long-term sustainability of European aquaculture by developing and demonstrating an innovative production technology, Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture or IMTA. One of the tools applied to evaluate the sustainability of developed IMTA technologies in this project is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Project description
Aquaculture, which includes fish farming, faces increasing pressures as demand for seafood products grows while traditional wild fisheries are in decline. IDREEM was launched in 2012 and is currently developing and demonstrating Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) in a selected number of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The €5.7 million project is coordinated by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and delivered in collaboration with fourteen industrial and research partners from across Europe.
The IDREEM project will demonstrate the benefits of IMTA through pilot commercial-scale testing, field research and modelling. Interdisciplinary research within IDREEM will examine the obstacles and risks to the use of IMTA systems and develop tools to overcome these constraints, whether they are economic, environmental, technical, social or regulatory.
IDREEM pairs aquaculture businesses and research institutions in strategic partnerships to promote rapid implementation, allowing instant transfer between research findings and commercial applications. The tools and methods developed within IDREEM will help aquaculture enterprises and policy makers gain a better understanding of the risks and benefits associated with IMTA.
The end result of the project will be the creation of a more efficient European aquaculture industry, based on the development of more economically and environmentally efficient technology. IDREEM will deliver tools and evidence to support the adoption of IMTA across the aquaculture industry, helping create employment and widening a market niche for IMTA-grown seafood products.
Mendoza Beltran A., Guinée J., Heijungs R. (2014). A statistical approach to deal with uncertainty due to the choice of allocation method in LCA. Proceedings (Volume 1) of the 9 th International Conference on LCA of Food, San Francisco, USA 8-10 October 2014. Also known as: Mendoza Beltran, Angelica , Jeroen Guinée and Reinout Heijungs (2014). Integrated protocol to quantify distributions in results. IDREEM Deliverable D6.3, 1 September 2014, Leiden University.
The IDREEM project is updated regularly at http://www.idreem.eu/