Design of offshore systems for clam aquaculture in harsh environments

Summary

The aim of this project is to develop an economically efficient mooring system for clam aquaculture, capable of enduring the severe conditions of the Portuguese coastline. This will be achieved by calibrating numerical models with data gathered from the current clam aquaculture system operating in Lagos, thus characterizing the existing system and gaining additional insight on its behaviour. These calibrated models will then be utilized to create and refine new designs tailored to improve the system performance in terms of hydrodynamic loads, offshore operations, and system yield. The performance of these designs will subsequently be validated through rigorous experimental testing in a model basin facility. The final step will be the installation of an instrumented pilot line using the optimized design for a final validation of its suitability. The final deployment of these novel systems is expected to open new possibilities for clam production along the Portuguese Atlantic coast. In doing so, it could contribute significantly to the growth and diversification of the Portuguese blue economy.

Scope

Pacto da Bioeconomia Azul strives towards a new paradigm of sustainability, innovation, and decarbonization to leverage ocean resources as a solution to the increasing scarcity of land-based resources. This project aims to develop new products, processes and services from the new blue economy, which will then be incorporated in existing or new value chains among the several Portuguese industries that are present in the consortium, benefiting the environment, consumers, and product exports.

Key Target Sectors

• New application of biomaterials;
• New solutions for shellfish aquaculture;
• Marine based textiles;
• Sustainability of the food industry;
• Algae production;
• Circularity of the food sector;
• Bioinformatics applied to the fishing industry.

Across these sectors, the new products, processes and services will be leveraged through three initiatives:

• A Portuguese network called Blue Biobanks;
• A digital platform to value marine by-products;
• And by fostering the growth and internationalization of the SME present in this ecosystem.

Therefore, this investment will (i) leverage the growth of a new leading edge industrial sector based on marine bioresources; (ii) demonstrate the sustainability and economic potential of marine biotechnology across different industries; (iii) position Portugal as pioneer of this new industry, which is estimated to reach a global market of 200 billion Euro by 2030 (iv) seize the opportunity presented by innovation and growth potential of ocean related industries (aquaculture, fishing, fish canning industry), and the incorporation of marine by-products in other traditional industries (textiles, cork, fertilizers, public health).

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