University of Glasgow gets £3 million for aquaculture research

Researchers at the University of Glasgow have been awarded £3 million across four aquaculture projects.

With a focus on sustainable aquaculture – the farming and harvesting of fish, shellfish and aquatic plants – the team at the School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine will focus on projects in farmed salmon and seaweed.

Led by Martin Llewellyn and Sofie Spatharis, the first project has been funded with £2 million from the new Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Industrial Partnership Award and will look at the plankton-based drivers of gill disease in farmed Atlantic salmon.

The project will also include researchers form the University of Aberdeen and Roslin Institute and industry partners, including MOWI and Scottish Sea Farms.

Seaweed and salmon

A second project, led by Dr Spatharis, Prof Llewellyn and Simon Babayan with Dan Smale from the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, will study seaweed farming in Europe.

Funded through a £585,021 grant from BBSRC’s Sustainable Aquaculture Partnerships, the project will focus on nine farms in the UK, Norway and Sweden on finding solutions to predict biofouling.

Two other projects by Dr Spatharis and Prof Llewellyn will work with partners on new salmon farming research, with a further £352,000 going to Glasgow from the BBSRC Sustainable Aquaculture Partnerships.

‘Amazing team’

Dr Spatharis said: “I feel very lucky to be in Scotland and Glasgow uni in particular, working with an amazing team of marine ecologists, making use of exciting new infrastructure for coastal research and working at the forefront of an expanding sustainable aquaculture industry.”

Prof Llewellyn said: “It is wonderful to see the University of Glasgow working more in the aquaculture space – we have much to offer. Aquaculture represents the future of food from the sea and pushing for a more sustainable footing is vital.”