Ghent University coordinates BlueMarine³.Com: blueprint for a viable hatchery of three marine commercially attractive species groups, a collaboration with Aquacultuur Oostende, Colruyt Group, DEME, IMAQUA, Proviron and SIOEN. It involves three UGent research groups that are BLUEGent members, namely the Laboratory of Aquaculture & ARC (Prof. Peter Bossier),  the Laboratory for Environmental Toxicology (GhEnToxLab, Prof. Colin Janssen) and the Phycology Research Group (Prof. Olivier De Clerck).

Within BlueMarine³.Com integrated ecosystem-based hatchery techniques will be developed. Innovation is actively pursued in both biological and technological aspects with a strong emphasis on developing synergies and integration between species, infrastructure, rearing techniques and management, a so called ‘integrated multispecies approach’. BlueMarine³.Com aims to expand knowledge on hatchery technology of seaweed, mollusks and crustaceans. The project partners will use their expertise and research facilities to study a number of research questions related to sustainability (e.g., closed culture systems for mollusks, integrated disease management, environmental impact assessment), gene mapping and strain development of seaweed, the development of new species, etc. 

The project results focus on different commercialization routes for the private partners, meaning that they tackle specific bottlenecks and uncertainties with regard to the biological, technical and economic feasibility of local hatchery activities for seaweed (SIOEN), mollusks (DEME and Aquaculture Oostende) and shrimp (IMAQUA and Colruyt Group). In addition, the project results meet other specific requirements of the industry, such as product innovation (SIOEN and Proviron) and the development of new tools (IMAQUA).

For Ghent University, the project results will consolidate and expand its unique expertise in hatchery techniques and lead to a hatchery pilot installation that will further serve this emerging sector in Flanders. As part of UGent’s valorization route, BlueMarine³.Com should lead to the establishment of a (multi-species) hatchery pilot installation that will serve as an incubator for innovation and an accelerator for large-scale hatchery initiatives.

BlueMarine³.Com is a VLAIO / Blue Cluster ICON project that will run from October 2019 to June 2023.