The initiative is funded by Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
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The Pep4Fish project, which is focused on developing new aquaculture feed solutions, has entered the open-water testing phase off the Algarve coast in southern Portugal.
The initiative is funded by Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), part of the European Union's post-pandemic recovery programme, with an investment of €21.7 million.
For the first time, new diets for European seabass and gilthead sea bream will be evaluated under real production conditions, aiming to improve the fish's resistance to stress and bacterial infections.
These trials, whose results will make it possible to move to a commercial scale, are being carried out at Seaculture, a Jerónimo Martins Agro-Alimentar company and consortium partner, which will evaluate the performance of these new formulations.
"We are evaluating fish performance with these new diets in a production environment, as initial laboratory results point to very positive indicators, particularly in terms of growth and reduced mortality rates," said Pedro Encarnação, Executive Director of Seaculture.
Another of Pep4Fish's main objectives is to reduce dependence on conventional raw materials and promote more sustainable alternatives and circular value chains.
"This project allows us to explore solutions that strengthen production sustainability while also promoting animal welfare. We believe that more robust and healthy fish also translate into a higher quality end product," added Encarnação.
The collaborators include nine business and scientific partners: AgroGrIN Tech, B2E CoLAB, CIIMAR, the School of Biotechnology of the Portuguese Catholic University, ITS, Savinor, Sebol, Sorgal and Seaculture.
