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EU Contract Q5RS-2000-31334: SEAPURA
Species diversification and improvement of aquatic production in seaweeds purifying effluents from integrated fish farms
Annual Report, Year 1 (Part A): Project Progress Summary
Section 1: PROJECT IDENTICATION
Title of the project:Species diversification and improvement of aquatic production in seaweeds purifying effluents from integrated fish farms
Acronym of the project: Seapura
Commencement date: 1 February 2001
Period covered by the progress report: 1 February 2001 - 31 January 2002
Project coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Klaus Lüning
Stiftung Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI)
Wattenmeerstation Sylt
Hafenstr. 43, D-25992 List/Sylt, Germany
Tel +49 4651 956-142 Fax +49 4651 956-200
E-mail:
Key words: aquatic production, seaweeds, polyculture, fish farms, species diversification
World wide web address:
List of participants
1 AWI = Alfred Wegener Institute Foundation for Polar and Marine Research, Germany
Prof. Klaus Lüning / Dr. Shaojun Pang / Petra Kadel
2 ULPGC = Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Prof. Guillermo Garcia Reina / Prof. Juan Luis Pinchetti
3 CCMAR = Centre of Marine Sciences of the University of Algarve, Portugal
Prof. Rui Santos / Leonardo da Mata / Andreas Schünhoff
4 CIMAR = Universidade de Porto, Portugal
Prof. Isabel Sousa Pinto / Inês Domingues / Joana Matos / Rui Pereira /
5 QUB = Queen’s University, Belfast, United Kingdom
Prof. M. J. Dring / Dr. Lynn Browne
6 UMA = Universidad de Malaga, Spain
Prof Felix López-Figueroa / Rafael Conde Alvarez / Roberto Abdala Díaz
7 CEVA = Centre d´Etude et de Valorisation des Algues, France
Dr. Patrick Dion / Dr. Vincent Lognoné
8 EMAUG = Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Germany
Prof. Ulrike Lindequist / Anne Bansemir
EU Contract Q5RS-2000-31334: SEAPURA
Species diversification and improvement of aquatic production in seaweeds purifying effluents from integrated fish farms
First Year Annual Report of Project:
(Part A) Seapura Project Progress Summary, Year 1
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Section 2: Project Progress Report
Objectives:
The objectives of Seapura are
1. to develop and test the cultivation of high-value seaweed species (marine macroalgae) not used before in poly-aquaculture, in particular
1a. to increase the diversity of seaweed species available to be used in integrated poly-aquaculture systems (IPAS), in which the growth of seaweeds is combined with fish aquaculture;
1b. to provide quantitative data on nutrient uptake efficiencies and rates of the IPAS;
1c. to provide some of the food for fish by re-using the seaweed biomass;
2a. to improve seaweed production by cultivating seed stock of diverse seaweed species used by the polyculture groups;
2b. to extend the season of growth for valuable seaweed species by cultivation in continuous short days in outdoor tanks with automatic blinds;
2c. to enhance the reliability of seaweed cultures by preventing the uncontrolled mass sporulation of Ulva thalli in response to seasonal environmental cues;
3. to develop informative health assays for farmed seaweed species in order to provide early warning of unfavourable conditions in the culture systems that could result in severe disruption of the continuity or the economic value of the production process;
4. to screen the cultured seaweed species for content of possible fish-pathogenic antibiotics to reduce disease among farmed fish;
5. to conduct an economic evaluation of the cultivation systems (IPAS) with cost-benefit analyses, which will take account of (a) the benefits of improving the quality of the water through the systems of the SMEs associated with the project, (b) the commercial value of the cultivated seaweed species, with special consideration given to the replacement of low-value algal species by higher value species in all of the culture systems developed.
Results, Deliverables and Milestones during Year 1:
1. Developing procedures and systems for cultivation of high-value seaweed species not used before in poly-aquaculture
ULPGC (Gran Canaria), CCMAR (Faro), CIMAR (Porto) and AWI (Sylt) produced by February 2002 a first interim technical report on progress with cultivation procedure development and quantitative performance in integrated poly-aquaculture systems (IPAS) with possible winter/summer alternation of seaweed species (Deliverable 3).
1a. Increasing the diversity of seaweed species
Cultivation success with different seaweed species to produce sufficient seeding stock for polyculture in outdoor tanks was obtained with the following seaweed species:
---At ULPGC (Gran Canaria) with Gracilaria cornea var. red, Grateloupia doryphora, Asparagopsis taxiformis (partly unsuccessful), Gelidium arbuscula(slow growth), Hypnea spinella (cultivation started); Laurencia chondrioides (partly unsuccessful); Ulva rigida (used for comparisons).
--- At CCMAR (Faro) with the local seaweed species Gelidium sesquipedale, Osmundea (Laurencia) pinnatifida, Gigartina teedii.
---At CIMAR (Porto) with the local Gracilaria sp. and Palmaria palmata.
1b. Providing quantitative data on nutrient uptake efficiencies and rates of the IPAS
At ULPGC (Gran Canaria), results on algalyield obtained for algae growing in the run-off water of fish tanks showed satisfying values ranging at 10-40 g DW m-2 d-1, depending on season and light supply. Likewise, high growth rates of up to 8 % d-1in July and approximately 3-5 % d-1 during August to December were obtained.
Maximum values of nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUE) ranging at 60-70% ocurred in summer in a greenhouse at 20% of full sunlight, and a maximum value for nitrogen uptake rate (NUR) of 241 mmol m-2 d-1 was obtained in winter in another, more transparent greenhouse in winter.
Experiments carried out with Gracilaria during spring in rectangular tanks at three different algal densities (5, 10 and 15 g l-1) and two turnover rates (8 and 12 vol d-1) showed that yields between 10 and 20 g DW m-2 d-1 could be obtained at low and intermediate algal densities (5 and10 g l-1) and turnover rates close to 8 vol d-1. No significant increase in yield occurred by increasing algal density from 10 to 15 g l-1 at both turnover rates, and biofiltration efficiencies (NUE) showed even a tendency for decrease.
1c. Providing some of the food for fish by re-using the seaweed biomass
Samples from three algal species (Gracilaria cornea var. red, Ulva/Enteromorpha and Cystoseira abies-marina; air-dried and freeze dried samples) have been sent from ULPGC (Gran Canaria) to partner CIMAR at Porto in July 2001 for first fish feed preparation and experiments.
2. Improving seaweed production
AWI (Sylt) had completed by February 2002 a first interim technical report on first year's progress with improvement of seaweed cultivation by induction of year-round growth and production of year-round seed stock (Deliverable 4).
2a.Cultivating seed stock of diverse seaweed species used by the polyculture groups
In order to speed up availability of seed stock, AWI (Sylt, Germany) and QUB (Portaferry, Northern Irleland) have taken over to scale up biomass of several seaweed species occuring along the coasts of Portugal and Spain for later transfer to the polyculture partners (ULPGC, CCMAR and CIMAR). AWI was successful with Palmaria palmata, Falkenbergia phase of Asparagopsis, Hypoglossum hypoglossides and partly with Gelidium sesquipedale.
QUB is accumulating seed stock of the following seaweed species:
Palmaria palmata, Dumontia contorta, Dilsea carnosa, Osmundea pinnatifida, Palmaria palmata var. sarniensis, Osmundea osmunda, O. truncata, O. hybrida and Delesseria sanguinea
2b. Extending the season of growth for valuable seaweed species by cultivation in continuous short days in outdoor tanks with automatic blinds
Tanks with automatic blinds were manufactured by July-September 2001 by Mariscope (Kiel, Germany; Deliverable 1; Milestone 1) and installed at the sites of AWI, ULPGC, CIMAR, CCMAR and QUB. The main experiments will be conducted in summer 2002 (year 2) by these partners.
2c.Preventing the uncontrolled mass sporulation of Ulva thalli in response to seasonal environmental cues
At AWI (Sylt) three rounds of outdoor experiments have been completed from May 3 to September 10, 2001. Using an underwater lamp within the tank shining every night, it was found that (1) Ulva lactuca experienced more sporulation events, (2) apical sporulation portions were smaller, leading to larger blades and accordingly more biomass and (3) plants were greener. Thus, by providing a continuous weak light signal during the night within the tank, larger blades and more biomass were obtained.
3. Developing health assays for farmed seaweed species
UMA (Malaga) introduced chlorophyll fluorescence measured with a PAM fluorometer as a good indicator of photosynthetic activity for determining the health status of farmed seaweeds. The application of the technique was presented, as an example, for Gracilaria cornea, a farmed species in the Seapura project at ULPGC (Gran Canaria). A booklet describing in detail the health assay prodedure was produced in October 2001 (Deliverable 2; Milestone 2) and distributed to the polyculture units (ULPGC, CCMAR and CIMAR).
4. Screening the cultured seaweed species for content of possible fish-pathogenic antibiotics to reduce disease among farmed fish
EMAUG (Greifswald, Germany) had completed by October 2001 the installation phase for preparing test systems for antibiotic activity from seaweed samples(Deliverable 2; Milestone 3). EMAUG obtained material of 12 different cultivated seaweed species from ULPGC (Gran Canaria), AWI (Sylt) or CCMAR (Faro).Extraction was carried out with different solvents (dichlormethane, methanole and water). The antibacterial activity of the samples was tested with the agar diffusion test against 6 fish-pathogenic bacteria. After this first screening Laurencia chondrioides and Gracilaria cornea appear as promising seaweeds and were selected for isolation of the active compounds from the dichlormethane extracts.
5. Conducting an economic evaluation of the cultivation systems
CEVA (Pleubian, France) delivered in February 2002 a first interim technical report on socio-economic and environmental capacity of integrated poly-aquaculture systems (Deliverable 5; Milestone 6) . The report treats purification efficiency, production costs of tested seaweeds in different aquaculture systems during different seasons, valorisation of the farmed seaweed biomass and points out which particular seaweed species are economically important for the cultivation partners (ULPGC, CCMAR, CIMAR, AWI, QUB). Furthermore, the report contains analytical results from samples of seaweed species cultivated in outdoor tanks at ULPGC (Gran Canaria) and AWI (Sylt, Germany).
Benefits and Beneficiaries during Year 1:
The target audience during year 1 consisted mainly of the Seapura partners, with two General Meetings (18-21 February and 26-30 September, 2001, both at ULPGC, Gran Canaria). In addition, the Seapura project was presented by AWI to an external audience at the Marine Biotechnology Fair InWaterTec at Kiel (Germany) during 29-31 August, 2001, and by ULPGC at a conference on “Algae cultivation and applications” on 27 November, 2001 with a lecture by Juan Luis Gómez Pinchetti at Universidad de La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain. A website seapura.com has been installed by ULPGC.
End of (Part A) Seapura Project Progress Summary, Year 1