Cross-border innovations in Arctic aquaculture (KO4058 ARCTAQUA)

Most of the population in the Arctic regions concentrates near coastal areas or close to lakes, and one of the historically most lucrative activities in these regions have been fisheries. This sector includes a number of jobs not only in fisheries but also in related businesses, such as retailing, suppliers and processers. To develop in a sustainable way, Arctic aquaculture needs to expand and implement environmentally friendly farming and feeding practices. SMEs alone cannot make all the needed innovation work and need support from research partners to implement new practices under commercial conditions.
ARCTAQUA project will contribute to an expansion of an economic, ethical and environmentally sustainable aquaculture industry in the Arctic region. The project aims at solving major production bottlenecks for a more resource efficient fish farming with high economic value. In alternative to most of marine farming projects focused on Atlantic salmon, ARCTAQUA deals with other fish species (whitefish, nelma, wolfish, Arctic char). These species have a high economic value and have proved to be suitable for farming in the Arctic region. The strength of ARCTAQUA lies in gathered, complementary scientific expertise within the consortium and in close collaboration with SMEs from Russia, Sweden, Finland and Norway.