Acronym CalaFeed
Category
Aquaculture
Title Enhancing the potential of Calanus finmarchicus as raw material for sustainable aquaculture feed ingredients Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Inger Beate Standal Coordinator email NA
Coordinator institution
NA
Institutions involved
NA - Calanus AS (Norway) ,
NA - Gergewi AS (Norway) ,
NOFIMA - Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (Norway) ,
NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway) ,
NA - Skretting AS (Norway) ,
CSIC - Spanish National Research Council (Spain) ,
Start year 2021 End year 2024 Funding (€) € 1,190,600 Website https://prosjektbanken.forskningsradet.no/project/FORISS/320536 Summary "A crucial challenge for the aquaculture sector in the future is access to sustainable feed ingredients that meet the nutritional needs of salmon and can be produced cost-effectively in large volumes.
Currently, only 2% of our food is produced in the ocean, but the ocean harbors several species that are not harvested today or are underutilized. One such species found in significant volumes is Calanus finmarchicus, commonly known as copepod or ""raudåta."" It is estimated that 290 million tons of copepods are produced annually in the Norwegian Sea alone. Only in recent years has commercial copepod fishing been allowed in Norway, enabling the harvesting and procurement of substantial volumes of this species. In 2019, only 352 tons were harvested out of a total quota of 254,000 tons.
Copepods are a source of both proteins and omega-3 fatty acids, but there is a need to develop technology for more efficient harvesting and processing to fully utilize this resource.
The main goal of CalaFeed is to determine and enhance the potential of utilizing copepods, a natural resource with the capacity to meet the requirements for fish feed set by the industry, consumers, and society. The project will specifically focus on processes for the complete utilization of the harvested raw material, and the effect of protein fractions will be tested in fish trials. Fish feed is the single factor contributing the most to the carbon environmental footprint of Norwegian salmon. The environmental and climate aspects of new feed ingredients from copepods will be a central part of the project.
The project is led by researchers from SINTEF Ocean, with a consortium including researchers from Nofima, NTNU, and CSIC in Spain, as well as industry players Calanus AS and Skretting. Together, they will work to maximize the potential of copepods as a sustainable feed resource for Norwegian farmed salmon. The collaborative project is funded by the Research Council.
Currently, copepods are frozen on board for further processing on land. An important goal of the project is to find methods for stabilizing the raw material suitable for larger volumes and for harvesting further offshore. The stabilization method must preserve the quality of the oil while being suitable for producing high-quality protein fractions.
In the first project period, raw materials have been obtained and analyzed for chemical composition. The lipid content of copepods is known to vary significantly; values between 15% and 63% of dry weight have been reported for copepodite stages IV and V. The analyses show that the fat content is 17% of dry weight. Plans have been made for experiments on both stabilization and further processing. Over the next few months, the project will study the effect of different storage pH values on the biomass's quality to gain more knowledge about the stability of the raw material under different storage conditions.
Extracts will be produced using traditional fish meal processing, hydrolysis, and ensiling. Screening of the bioactivity of these fractions will be conducted at CSIC (antioxidant and anti-inflammatory responses) and Nofima (antimicrobial activity). Initial tests have been conducted to separate lipids and produce various protein fractions. In the next project period, process technology will be optimized to obtain suitable fractions for use in bioactivity tests and feed production.
The announcement for a 2-year postdoctoral position at NTNU regarding the sustainability assessment of new feed ingredients from copepods has been completed. The position will be advertised in the near future, with the planned start for the Postdoctoral researcher in spring 2021."
Keywords
Salmon;
Fish;
Protein source;
Zooplankton;
Feed composition;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
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