Offshore Low-Trophic Aquaculture in Multi-use Scenario Realisation in North and Baltic Seas

The effects of climate change on the ecosystems and society reveal the need moving away from fossil to renewable energies such as wind or solar energy. Additionally, global food security as well as healthy marine ecosystems are at serious jeopardy as marine resource production can no longer be sustained by ecosystems and fisheries production only. Moreover, for instance in Germany imports of seafood from other countries amount up to 80 % of yearly consumed seafood products. 

One approach supported by broad evidence is the potential of low trophic aquatic food to reduce food and nutrition insecurity in a changing climate, delivering essential ecosystem services and enabling achieving the UN SDGs. To achieve these goals, expansion of low trophic aquaculture (LTA) for increasing seafood production offers opportunities not only in unexploited regions and environments but also can maximize benefits of marine space in a multi-use (MU)-approach such as combining wind farm areas with aquaculture or even an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA).

The main objective of OLAMUR (Offshore Low-trophic Aquaculture in Multi-Use scenario Realisation) is to demonstrate sustainable commercial solutions for both, the North and the Baltic Sea, bringing MU-LTA related key sectors together. The project started in January 2023 with three pilot studies, two in the Baltic and one in the North Sea. Amongst the 25 partners from different EU countries in this project AWI and its partners (HEREON, WindMW, Nordfriesische Seemuschel GmbH, Wyk 8 Muschelfischereibetrieb GmbH) are participating actively by conducting the case study in the North Sea. 

Therefore, in the framework of a case study site within the OLAMUR-Project the working group Marine Aquaculture at the AWI is working on the development and deployment of aquaculture system-designs in a highly exposed and offshore location within the wind farm Meerwind Süd/Ost. The windfarm is located approximately 12 nautical miles north of Heligoland and 45 nm off the German coast (Cuxhaven). 

The installation of open ocean aquaculture systems within offshore wind farm sites, often located often in exposed environments, requests different approaches and potentially new developments of aquaculture structures and different protocols for permissions. Therefore, the aim of the case studies in OLAMUR is combining partly different cultured species under distinct environmental conditions, assessing their growth as well as the handling and robustness of installed aquaculture systems under offshore conditions. New developed aquaculture structures have to be sufficiently robust to cope with harsh environmental conditions and also with respect to the increased maintenance efforts. At the same time farming has to be cost-efficient enough to allow a financially sustainable low trophic aquaculture production offshore.