Minimising climate impact on aquaculture: mitigation and adaptation solutions for future climate regimes | Deadline: 22 February 2024

Deadline: 22 February 2024  | 17 September (multiple cut-offs)
Budget: €9.000.000
Countries: Algeria,France, Italy, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia
More information: funding and tender opportunities portal by the European Commission 

Scope

  • Proposals are expected to enhance knowledge of the impacts of climate change on aquaculture production at environmental, social and economic levels. They should identify, forecast and assess the main effects of climate change on different aquaculture production systems and on their ecological carrying capacity.
  • They should consider impacts of climate change such as water availability (e.g., rise in evaporation, decrease in rainfall, extreme weather events like droughts or floods), water quality (e.g., acidification, eutrophication, pollution, contamination), temperature rise, sea level rise, spread of diseases (e.g. recrudescence of endemic and emerging diseases in traditional and recirculating aquaculture systems), reduced fish welfare, invasive species, and other climate related risks.
  • They should also investigate adaptation and mitigation solutions and opportunities such as technological, social, economic, and biological/ecological aspects, selection of suitable sites, culture methods (including the contribution of organic production and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture), species plasticity and adaptability to changing environments as well as breeding and selection techniques for a more sustainable, productive and resilient production.
  • Furthermore, they should address aspects of circularity in terms of more efficient use of resources and less negative impacts on marine environment, including reduction, valorisation, and reuse of waste. Indicative aspects could include Life Cycle Assessment approaches such as of feeding systems and valorisation of non-food biomass for feeds and fertilisers.
  • Proposals should build on the work of Horizon 2020 and EMFF projects, such as ClimeFish and CERES, and provide applicable approaches and tools to the aquaculture sector.
  • Selected proposals should collaborate with each other.
  • This topic should involve the effective contribution of SSH disciplines.
  • Proposals are encouraged to cooperate with actors such as the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). The possible participation of the JRC in the project would consist in providing and analysing aquaculture data.